Let it Burn
by Shedauwz
Summary: After what happened to his foster-father and after the life he had without him, Natsu Dragneel is sent on a mission to infiltrate Fairy High where, slowly, everything goes wrong. His mind gradually gets torn apart while the people that had sent him on his mission plan something that might destroy the entire world. AU/OCC and a lot of OC's - You've been warned.
1. Prologue

**Sorry for not updating Fairy Tail High for so long, it's just been such a hectic week now that my 3rd year at highschool is almost over -.-  
Anyway, I had this idea in my head, so thought I should give it a shot.**

* * *

"Magnolia, huh.." said quietly a hooded figure while looking down from the roof of a fifty-story skyscraper at the blazing inferno that was engulfing the whole town. The night's sky was tattered by the red light of the fire destroying everything in its path. The figure wore a black cloak and a hood, his eyes were covered by the shadow of the hood so it was harder to distinguish who he really was.

Suddenly, another figure flew right above the first one while being propelled by blue flames coming out of his feet. He landed right behind him, while holding an older man by his neck with what seemed was a tail.

"I told you not to destroy the whole city, Rin." The first figure stood up and tilted his head to see the just arrived comrade that was lowering his hood.

"It's not my fault, this guy provoked me by attacking Ayame." the man stated while removing his hood and looked at the other. He had black hair and blue eyes. His ears were somewhat pointy and he had a tail, which revealed that he wasn't fully human.

"Where's she now?" the other asked as he glared at the old man gasping for breath while trying to lighten the grip of the tail that almost choked him.

"She's fine, fighting this asshole's body guards or something like that," Rin sighed, but then he exclaimed in pain, "Ow! Damn it! Let go of my tail, geezer!" he shouted as he kicked the old man who was biting his tail. A desperate move caused by the need to breathe, but the kick hit him straight on the stomach, making it even harder for him to breathe as he rolled to the side of the building, almost falling off in the process.

"Why are you dragging him around anyway? He's useless now." The hooded figure said as he walked up to the suffering man, thinking what to do with him. The old man was without an arm, burn marks indicating that it was burned off, his face was beaten up. They spared no expense interrogating him.

"Please.." the man begged, "Just let me go.. I already told you all I know!" he exclaimed in pain while trying to stop the blood gushing out from the place where his hand once was.

"Shut up." the man plainly said as he kicked the older one off the building, sending him to the burning hell below. "Here, you're free now, scum." he growled.

"What's next?" Rin asked, unfazed by the cruelty of his leader.

"Magnolia." the figure stated as his gaze shifted towards the town, "I can't sense Ayame." he added with worry in his voice, "Find her."

The other nodded, but before he could leave, a beam of light was sent towards them which destroyed half the building. The hooded man dodged it easily by stepping back towards the middle of the roof as he looked for the source of the attack. And then, suddenly, three men flew up the roof with something that looked like.. a carpet?

"What the hell? A carpet? Really?" Rin facepalmed, "What are you three? Genies?" he said mockingly as the three landed.

"Where's boss? What did you do to him?" one of them asked while clenching his sword. The others readied themselves for a fight as well.

"Who cares, he was dead weight anyway." The black haired pouted, but then he carefully looked at the three and something hit him, "Where's Ayame?" he shouted while grasping for his sword under his cloak.

"Right here. " Said a feminine voice behind them. Rin turned back to see a girl crouching as a magic seal below her disappeared. She slowly stood up to look at the troubled man.

"I can never get used to that." he sighed at the teleporting mage, "What happened? I thought you incapacitated them."

"I did but the third one showed up, breaking my focus." she said calmly. She had white hair that went down her waist to her feet, almost reaching the ground, pale skin and a pair of red eyes, which showed more than she liked because of her appearance.

"Rin, Ayame," the hooded figure called, immediately making the two look his way, "go back, I need you two to start making preparations for us to go to Magnolia." he ordered, "And inform the military to take care of this town before nothing's left of it." he added, the two nodded as the white haired woman grabbed Rin's arm and they both disappeared.

"Now, you th-" he was interrupted by the swords and beams of magic heading his way which exploded on impact.

"Did we get him?" the one holding the sword asked himself, but his eyes widened in shock when the dust cleared to reveal that the figure blocked all that with one hand, "You.. Die!" he roared as he charged the figure with his sword, slashing everything in his path. The figure didn't attack, he only dodged. Dodged, dodged and dodged, moving sideways, back and forth, then stepping forward only to push the armed man away with his palm, causing him to fall a few meters back, giving an opportunity for the two behind him to use their long range attacks on him, but those were dodged easily by jumping up in the air. The swordsman used that opportunity to engulf his sword in white magic and pointed it towards the floating man, "_Heaven's Judgment: Pierce! _" he shouted as his sword extended towards him. "Die!"

The sword's tip was aimed at the figure's head, but was easily dodged by the figure raising his hand and shooting out some fire from it, making him propel himself to the side, then he grabbed the sword with his bare hand, it engulfed in fire as the metal started to melt.

"What? My heavenly magic imbued blade.. is melting?" he couldn't believe what he was witnessing.

"Weaklings." The man growled before starting to inhale air, the space around him distorting from the immense power he was gathering, "_Fire Dragon's Roar_!" he shouted as a blaze of fire erupted from his mouth and went straight towards the three. They were caught off guard by the sudden long-ranged attack and they didn't even have time to move as it crashed down, destroying everything in its wake, leveling the skyscraper to the ground in a huge explosion.

The figure was propelled even higher into the air by the shockwave of the explosion, he was above the clouds, slowly falling. He put two fingers to his forehead, "Ayame!" he called his comrade with the thought communication spell she cast on him. And then three seconds later two arms wrapping around his waist and pulling him backwards. Before he knew it, he was on the ground two miles away from the burning city.

"Thanks." he said while tilting his head to look at the girl behind him.

"Don't mention it." She smiled as she let go of his waist. Rin, who was standing a few meters away from them, growled at the sight. He always liked the girl, but couldn't tell her because he thought she liked the man she was standing behind. And he knew that he couldn't match up to him.

Much to Rin's annoyance, the man noticed the reaction and only sighed as he removed his hood, revealing a spiky pink-haired head with black eyes. From his face alone you could distinguish that he was still in his teen years, though his power easily rivaled that of the strongest mages in all of the country. He closed his eyes to focus on the thought projection spell he needed to use to contact his superior to notify her of the outcome of the battle and the mission.

The image of him appeared in a dark, candle lit room. It was covered in books, scrolls, notebooks, diaries and whatever else. It was a mess, to put it simply. In the corner of the room there was a desk with a chair behind it, where a middle-aged woman was sitting. She had long black hair and a simple white robe covering her figure. The woman seemed annoyed because she was reading some kind of book which apparently wasn't to her liking. She tilted her head up once she sensed the man's presence and her expression changing to a kind one. She had green eyes with glasses on.

"Natsu." she smiled, "How goes the mission?" she inquired. _'Straight to the point, as always.'_Natsu thought.

"It was a success. "he said, "Well, kind of, anyway." he sighed.

"What happened?" the woman looked surprised.

"That idiot, Rin, destroyed the whole city." he pouted, "Again." then added, his expression changing to an annoyed one.

"I can't believe it was only him," she smirked, "I bet you had your fair share of destruction, too." she added, making the mage sweatdrop, noticing that, she chuckled, "Civilian casualties?"

"None. Ayame managed to trigger the evacuation signal before the mission took place." he said, reassuringly.

The woman sighed with relief before asking, "What did you find out?"

"We interrogated Weitzman." he said, "That guy was a hard one to crack, but he said that the next target had something to do with Magnolia."

"Magnolia?" she looked surprised, "Why there..?" she asked herself.

"What's wrong?" Natsu asked, worried.

"Wha- N-no.. It's nothing," she brushed it off, "Anything else?" and inquired again.

"He mentioned Fairy High, which I intend to infiltrate and investigate." the pink haired teen stated.

The woman smiled, "Good. Please brief me if you find anything out." she said, confident that Natsu would definitely succeed. Natsu was one of her best mages. His power as a Dragon Slayer was unsurpassed, even by others of the same Magic. Magic was rare in their world, only four of ten people possessed the potential of being a mage, more so Dragon Slayer magic, which was considered to be one of the strongest magics, yet one of the rarest, too.

Natsu nodded as he ended the thought projection, opening his eyes to see the burning city before him. He sighed with regret at the meaningless destruction they had caused, but he knew that it was necessary to find the man responsible for everything they had endured.

"So?" Rin asked, walking to him, impatiently, "What did _mother_say?"

"We are to go to Magnolia, I'll brief you on the rest later." he said, and then turned to the white-haired companion, "Aya, get me everything you can about Fairy High." he said, she raised an eyebrow in question, "We're going to infiltrate it." he stated. Both Rin's and Ayame's eyes widened in shock. Fairy High was known as one of the best schools in the country, half of its students being mages, they even heard rumors that they had Dragon Slayers. But she complied.

"_Archive_" the girl said quietly as a magical console appeared before her, "What do we need?" she asked, shifting her look from the console to Natsu.

"Principal, teachers, students of note." he said, "And get the list of Dragon Slayers studying there, if you can."

She nodded as she began mashing the keys on the magic console, looking through every bit of information she could find.

"It's going to get busy soon.." Rin yawned as he layed down on the grass and almost instantly falling to sleep.

Natsu could only sigh at the carefree attitude of this guy, but he knew that he was right. Infiltrating and gathering information in Fairy High wouldn't be as easy as the last mission they had, and hell, they destroyed a whole city in that one.

* * *

**Alright, hope you liked this one. Please tell me what you think and if it's worth continuing. (I will even if it's not :P, but FTH's definetly a priority, just so you know)**


	2. The Link

**Sorry for not mentioning this in the first chapter, but yeah, the Rin here is Rin Okumura from Blue Exorcist, but you probably figured that out already. :)  
****Anyway, enjoy.  
**

* * *

"This is where you'll be staying, Natsu" Ayame said as she opened the door to a two-room plus bathroom apartment. The first room was a fully furnished living room and a connected kitchen. The other was his own bedroom/study. The place wasn't cheap and looked really extravagant, but what could you expect when Ayame's organizing everything, she always was a spender.

"Whoa, this is sweet." Rin said in awe as he walked around the apartment.

"Oi, take your shoes off." Natsu growled.

"We'll be staying on the fifth floor, so we don't cause suspicion if your future friends from school decide to visit you." She said.

"Or is it that we don't disturb you when you bring girls over?" Rin pouted.

"You'll be staying with one yourself." Natsu retorted, which made Rin blush and Ayame send a glare his way.

"Oh, and all of the school stuff you'll need is already delivered and in the study." she continued, "Your uniform and casual clothing are already in your closet, and I made sure _mother _transferred some money into your account." the girl added.

Natsu nodded, "So I am to treat you two as normal neighbors, correct?"

"That's right." she answered.

"Just don't throw a party or anything without us." Rin grinned.

"That's all?" Natsu inquired.

"Yeah, we'll be taking our leave." She said as she gave Natsu the keys to the apartment and grabbed her black-haired friend's arm and vanished. _'Couldn't you just take the stairs..?'_Natsu sweatdropped.

Natsu kicked off his shoes as he entered the apartment. Took off the black vest he had on and white tee and threw them on a couch in the living room. He figured he should take a shower after sweating and almost puking his insides out while traveling by train for two days straight. Yes, Natsu Dragneel had motion sickness. And a bad case of it too.

A few moments later after taking a shower Natsu was already at his laptop and was looking through the lessons he had to go to tomorrow. He got a message on his e-mail from Ayame.

_Sorry, but even with "Archive" I couldn't find any solid information regarding the mages of Fairy High. That school's a mystery. You'll have to find out yourself. Be careful. _

Natsu frowned at the message received. He never did like going into infiltration missions blind, even more so on one this important.

* * *

The next morning Natsu was woken up extra early by a certain teleporting mage.

"What is it, Aya? I still have an hour.." he grunted while rolling to the other side of his bed.

"Get up already, I need to put the seal on you." She said while flipping the cover off of him.

"Ugh..fine." he grunted as he sat on the side of the bed. She sat next to him and put her hand on his bare back.

"_Seal: Chain Magic_" she said and a black circle with some kind of symbol appeared on Natsu's back. At first, it was large, stretching through all his back, black tattoo's of chains covering both his hands and his legs, but then shrank to a barely visible dot, the chains retracted to it. "Natsu, this seal is made to handle any mage whose magic power is near that of S-Class, but it wasn't made to handle yours." she said, Natsu yawned, "Are you even listening?" the girl asked, annoyed, he nodded while turning to her and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "It will hide your magic, but if you try to use it, the seal will break." she added as she stood up.

"Got it.." Natsu yawned again, "Can you make me some coffee now?" he said as he fell back on the bed.

"What am I? Your maid?" Ayame pouted, then kicked him in the leg, "Get up damn it!"

"Ow! FIne! I'm up, I'm up!" he exclaimed as he got up. Natsu was only in his boxers, half his body naked, but she didn't mind it. After seven years of working/living with both Rin and Natsu, she had gotten used to almost anything.

"And don't worry about the coffee, " she said while turning around, "It's already been made, breakfast included. Make sure you don't be late." The girl added as she disappeared.

_'You just said you weren't my maid, and you made me breakfast? Weirdo.. And how the hell can I be late when you woke me up one hour early, damn it.' _he sighed with the exclamation in his mind.

* * *

Some time later, Natsu was already making his way to school. The weather was nice and sunny, even though the sun had just risen. Magnolia never had winter, it was always sunny and warm here. Natsu was wearing the school's uniform: A white shirt, black jacket and black pants. He had a black necktie with white and red stripes on it, and the top of his shirt was unbuttoned.

_'Natsu.' _he heard a voice in his head, it was Ayame using the thought communication spell.

_'Yeah? What is it?'_

_'Where are you now?'_

_'Near the school, why?'_

_'Your class is 3-B. The classroom's on the third floor of the building.'_

_'Thanks.'_ he replied as he was near the school courtyard entrance,_ 'I'm cutting the spell, already here.' _he told her through thoughts as he severed the connection and cut the rest of his magical power.

Natsu walked through the courtyard of the school, looking around, noticing that the students around him were staring: "Who's that guy? Is he new? Oi, look at that hair" Natsu heard them because of his enhanced hearing abilities which manifested during his Dragon Slayer training. He didn't look at them or say anything, he just made his way to his class, trying not to draw too much attention to himself.

Once inside, Natsu looked around, the place looked spacious, thought not many students were walking about as the lesson had already started. Natsu was late, so he quickly went up the stairs to the third floor and started searching for his classroom. He noticed there were signs above every door, indicating which class it was. _'3-C..3-A.. Ah! There it is! 3-B!'_. Near the classroom, he saw a man in his forties standing outside the class.

"You must be Natsu Dragneel." The man smiled as he looked at him. Natsu nodded, "I'm Gildarts Clive, your new homeroom teacher. Pleased to meet you." He introduced himself and put his hand forward. Natsu shook it.

"Pleased to meet you, too." Natsu smiled back.

"The lesson's already started, let's go inside and I'll introduce you to the class." He said as he opened the classroom door and invited Natsu in.

"Mornin'," he greeted the class as he walked in. Everyone greeted him back and then eyed Natsu as he followed the older man. "Oi, pipe down." he yelled to the class, who were all whispering about the new soon-to-be classmate, "We've got a transfer student," he said, then turned to Natsu, "Could you introduce yourself?" he smiled.

"Sure," he replied, his hands in his pockets, "Natsu Dragneel." he said, plainly, which made the teacher sweatdrop at the brief introduction.

"Okay.." Gildarts sighed, "There's one seat left for you, right there, behind Gray." he said as he pointed towards a teen with black hair and dark blue eyes who was eying him, suspiciously. Natsu nodded as he made his way towards the back of the class. He heard some girls chatting, unsurprisingly - about him.

"He looks weird, that pink hair especially." One said.

"Really? I think he looks kinda cool.." the other muttered which made Natsu smile faintly.

He sat down in the chair near his desk and leaned on it, his hand supporting his head. Natsu was bored.

"Ancient languages." The teacher named the lesson, "Could everyone open page 59?" he then asked, everyone complied, Natsu included.

"Natsu, can you translate the following text?" the teacher inquired.

The pink-haired looked through the text and sighed, then stood up and started reading:

"Book of the Beginning, Revelation three: And then he created the ancient ones. Creatures which pierced the sky with their wings, their roar enough to deafen the whole land. They were magnificent beings, of high intelligence and strength, able to crush anything underfoot..." and he went on, stunning everyone at the ease of how he translated it.

"Very good, Natsu." The teacher complimented, "Do you understand what the revelation spoke about?"

"Dragons." was the simple answer. The teacher nodded and Natsu sat down.

And the whole lesson was like that. Gildarts was testing what his new student knew and he was honestly surprised. Every question he asked, and there were a lot of them, he answered with ease.

After the lesson Natsu stayed at his desk, his arms crossed and eyes closed when suddenly the guy sitting in front of him turned around and pushed his hand forward.

"Gray." he introduced himself with a smirk.

Natsu opened one eye to look at him and immediately closed it, ignoring the greeting. A tick formed on Gray's forehead as he grabbed Natsu by the collar and made him stand up. "Hey! You should say something when someone's introducing themselves." he growled.

"Dude, put some clothes on first." Natsu retorted.

"Huh?" Gray growled again.

"Gray! Your clothes!" A blond girl near them exclaimed.

"Gah! What the hell!" He complained.

"Frickin' pervert." Natsu shrugged as he watched Gray trying to find his clothes. The blonde girl came up to him.

"Hi." she brought her hand forward, "I'm Lucy." the girl said with a smile. Unlike that other guy, this girl seemed pretty normal, so Natsu shook her hand.

"Natsu." he returned the smile.

"Soo.. Natsu, you seemed to know a lot when the teacher was questioning you. Which school did you go to before?" Lucy asked, curiously.

"I didn't. Self taught." was the simple reply.

"All of that?" Lucy gasped.

"He's probably a bookworm." Gray said when he finally found his clothes.

"Better a bookworm than a pervert." Natsu retorted, glaring at him.

"What did you say?" Gray semi-shouted as he rammed his head against Natsu's.

"You heard me, freak." Natsu answered. Lightning was flickering around them. Both of them glaring and spitting insults at each other.

"Okay, okay, break up you two" Lucy said as she pulled Gray away from the pink-haired teen.

"Tch." Gray pouted.

And the bell rang, break was over. Gray sat back in his seat, Lucy went to hers, "Hey, Lucy." Natsu called.

"Yeah?" she turned around.

"Can you do me a favor and show me around the school after this lesson? This place is so big, earlier I got lost before I found this class." He scratched the back of his head while smiling sheepishly_. 'I need to ask you a few things' _he thought.

Lucy chuckled, "Sure." she said with a smile as she went back to her seat. Eventually the teacher entered the class. This one had green hair that reached to his back and his bangs covered his right eye.

"Good morning, everyone." He bowed his head, "I see we have a new face in the class," he said while looking at Natsu, "So I'll introduce myself. Freed Justine." he said.

And the lesson started. It mainly consisted of translation and use of Runes. Again, the teacher asked mostly Natsu, and every single time he'd answer correct. By this point, everyone was literally shocked at how much this new guy knew, while Natsu only shrugged.

* * *

The lesson finally ended. Natsu came to Lucy's desk, "So.. Tour?" he smiled, the blondie nodded as they made their way out of class.

"Where are you from originally?" She asked him, trying to start a conversation.

"A small town near the western border of the country, Daran." he said.

"Daran? Never heard of that town, sorry.." Lucy sheepishly laughed.

"I'm not surprised. The town wasn't big enough to be known." the boy smiled.

"Wasn't?" Lucy noted the word, "Why past tense?"

"It was destroyed quite some years ago by a group of raiders or something like that." he said.

"And what about you and your parents?" she asked, curiously.

"My parents were never found. The final decision after weeks of search was that they died fighting the enemy. I was found by some council messengers the next day." Natsu said with a stoic expression.

"I'm so sorry.." Lucy said with a sad expression on her face, depressed that she brought up a sensitive subject when she only just met the person.

"Don't worry about it. I was too little to remember it anyway." he smiled, reassuring her that he was fine. Lucy nodded.

And they kept walking. Lucy showing him around. She showed him the gym, cafeteria, infirmary, teachers lounge, principal's office and other little stuff.

"What can you tell me about this place?" Natsu asked.

"What do you want to know?" the blonde smiled.

"Like the mages here.. Any strong ones?" he grinned.

"Well, Gray's strong." she replied.

"That pervert's a mage?" Natsu asked, surprised. Lucy nodded.

"Well, there are a lot of strong mages here, but one in particular.." she started to shake with a sweatdrop, "The council president."

"The council president?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah, I'd watch out for her if I were you. Though she's in our class." Lucy sighed.

"Our class?" Natsu asked, surprised, "Did I just not see her or..?"

"She wasn't in. Probably council work." she said, Natsu shrugged, _'I wonder..' _

"Can you use magic?" Lucy asked Natsu, he shook his head.

"You?" he asked.

"I thought you'd never ask!" She said as she showed him her palm and a small magical creature which resembled a bunny appeared.

"You're a summoner?" Natsu asked, surprised.

"Yup." the girl smiled.

"What's the strongest one you can summon?" Natsu asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Leo." she replied.

"Of the twelve Zodiacs?" This girl kept surprising him. She nodded. _'More strong people. This school's no joke..' _he sighed inwardly.

And then the bell rang. signaling them to return to their classrooms. But Natsu heard something while passing through the principal's office that piqued his interest. "Go ahead, I need to use the bathroom." he said with a smile, Lucy nodded as she made her way back to class.

As the hallway was finally empty, Natsu backed the wall to the side of the office door and listened carefully.

"So how's the new kid, Freed?" he heard the voice resembling that of an old man.

"Dragneel. Doesn't seem suspicious. Though he does know a lot. Would probably give Levy a run for her money." he heard Freed say.

"Did you sense any magic power from him?" he heard the elder voice again.

"No. Nothing." was the reply. _'Good, the seal's working' _Natsu thought.

"I'm still worried. A whole city is destroyed and a mysterious kid joins here mid-term." A third voice said.

"Freed, could you excuse us?" The elderly one said, politely.

_'Shit!'_ Natsu exclaimed in his mind when he heard footsteps heading towards the door and he silently slid around the corner, peeking through it. Much to his annoyance, the green-haired teacher was standing in front of the door. _'Not making this easy, are you?'_

Natsu, due to his enhanced senses, could faintly hear what the people inside were discussing:

"First, Weitzman dies, now this kid enrolls? Something's not right.." the other voice said, this one seemed younger.

"Dragneel.. I've heard that name before.." the elder said, and Natsu couldn't hear anything else. Either they started talking quieter, or they stopped talking all together. Natsu didn't care. He found out that there actually is a link between Weitzman and this school, and for now, it was all he needed to know. He made his way back to class not to cause any suspicion by being too late.

* * *

Natsu opened the door to his classroom, and was met with dead silence and one single yet deadly glare. He looked at the cause of it. She was a slim figure who had red hair that went to her back and brown eyes. _'Now who could this be..?' _Natsu thought as he eyed her. He then turned to look at the class, everyone seemed.. scared? He couldn't tell. Even the teacher had a weird expression on his face, as if he was worried for the well-being of the new guy.

"Late on your first day, Dragneel?" the woman asked while glaring daggers at him.

"Sorry, I needed to go to the bathroom." was the simple reply.

"There was the whole break to do that." she retorted.

"Uhhh.. Who are you? I believe we haven't met yet." Natsu said while dodging the question as he looked at her.

"Scarlet. Erza. Student council president." she said as she put her hand forward. Natsu remembered what Lucy said about her, and how she said it. He now understood why she looked so scared. He had faced monsters, demons, hell, even a dragon before without the slightest glint of fear, but the sight of the evil aura around her made Natsu wince.

"Natsu." he said as he slowly took her hand and shook it.

"Now, get back to your seat, Natsu." she said, the evilness never leaving her voice.

_'You're the reason I'm not in my seat in the first place!' _he wanted to say, but bit his tongue not to, at least not while he couldn't use his magic.

He went to sit down and saw Gray's expression.

"Scary, isn't she?" the black-haired asked shakily.

"Even more so in person." Natsu replied with a sigh. He wanted to say something else, but was met with the woman's glare, again, making him shut up.

Erza then turned to the teacher, "Sorry for disturbing the lesson." She said while bowing to him. He nodded and she returned to her seat. Natsu tried to figure out where her seat was. He saw her going his way. _'What..?' _he asked himself, then looked to his right to see an empty desk, _'Shit..'_ he exclaimed inwardly as she sat down at the desk next to him.

_'This is gonna be one hell of a mission..' _he thought with a troubled look on his face.

* * *

******Alright! Hope you liked this one. And of course, again I forgot what to say in the A/N.. Oh, wait.. The last chapter was in bold, right? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-  
Anyway, it's 2:00 AM here, and I need to be alive after five hours, that's why I'm signing off, hehe.  
**


	3. Someone who knows

A month has passed since Natsu entered Fairy High. The month itself was quite calm, Natsu had gotten to know his classmates better, he became friends with Lucy and Gray, even though he did fight with the said guy almost every day. He never did understand the council president though. She seemed like a cold person, but one who loved her school and her friends. Even though they didn't talk much, when they did she seemed both kind and harsh. Natsu thought that was a weird combination but he had seen worse in his travels.

The teachers at the said school would still be shocked at how smart Natsu was. They would always give him extra credit to help him evolve even further even though Natsu noticed that at times the teachers would eye him suspiciously. It was obvious to him that the principal had the teachers keep an eye on him. That didn't surprise him either.

The pink-haired teen was walking through the school's halls. He had a free period and he needed to chose a school club to join. He figured he should join something that didn't require physical activity, because that would cause even more suspicion towards him because he excelled in sports too much, the cause of that being his Dragon Slayer training.

"Natsu! What are you doing loitering around the school's halls?" he heard a familiar yet scary voice behind him. He turned around to notice a scarlet-haired beauty staring at him suspiciously.

"Oh! Hi, Erza." he greeted her with a forced smile.

"Don't "Hi Erza" me, why aren't you in your lesson?" she asked again with a glare pointed at him.

"I have a free period." he said calmly.

"So why aren't you in your clubroom?" Erza asked again.

"Because I can't make up my mind which one to join."

"Do you have any in mind?" she asked, softer this time. _'I can't believe how fast her tone swings!' _he thought and sighed inwardly.

"None yet." he replied.

"You should try the newspaper club then. " Erza stated, "They're looking for new members and the president is a nice guy." she said with a smile.

"Your boyfriend or something?" Natsu asked, he couldn't resist when he saw that smile she had on. He was only joking, though to his surprise, the president blushed. The PRESIDENT. The student council president, Erza Scarlet, the woman who was known as the Titania of Fairy high blushed. _'Oh shit. I'm dead.' _he exclaimed in his mind.

"N-None of your business!" She shouted and stomped off. Natsu was clearly taken aback. He was expecting a punch, a kick to the face, hell, he thought she'd even attack him with magic. _'That guy's one lucky bastard.' _Natsu thought. And after that he made his way to the newspaper club's room. He thought that if Erza recommended it, it had to be good because Erza almost never recommends or praises anything.

* * *

A few minutes later Natsu was already near the club's room. He knocked on the door and opened it, hoping that someone would be in even though not everyone had a free period at this time. Natsu entered the room, it was quite large, with six tables pushed to each other forming one large table in the middle of the room, the club president's desk was in the other side of the room near a window. Every single table had a computer set up on it. On the left side of the class there were various cupboards and closets with photography tools in them and to the right there was a sort of board of fame, where the best articles and photographs were hung up and the names of the most successful members were noted. To the side of the board there was a display of medals and trophies the club had won and, much to Natsu's surprise, the amount of prizes weren't in the single digits.

"Oh, hello." a female voice said. Natsu snapped out of whatever he was thinking when he saw the trophies and turned to the girl who greeted him. Natsu's jaw almost dropped when he looked at her, _'Who the hell's this? Catwoman?' _she was an average height woman with brown hair. The top of her hair was made to look like cat ears and were tied to ponytails at the base. The cat ears he could mind, but she too had cat-like eyes, nose and mouth and four whisker-like tattoos and a choker with a bell on it on her neck. She was wearing the usual Fairy High's girl's uniform: Black shoes with black stockings going up to her thighs, a pink skirt and a white long-sleeved shirt under a sleeveless yellow sweater which on the left side had the school's emblem on it. The only thing that was missing was the necktie that even the girls had to wear and that was replaced by the collar like choker.

"Hi!" Natsu greeted back while shaking his head trying to process the sight, "I'm Natsu." he said

"Millianna." She said with a smile, "I take it you're here to join the newspaper club?"

Natsu nodded, "Yeah, I guess." he said with a smile.

"Nyaa!" again Natsu's jaw almost dropped," Then I'd better introduce you to the other members. The president has a lesson right now, but the other three are present." she said while pointing towards the middle of the class where the centered tables were, "Wally, Simon, Sho, we have a new member!" she said with a smile, the three glanced their way.

"Hey, I'm Sho." introduced himself an average height teen who had blond wavy hair with fringes hanging above his forehead. He had brown skin and dark beady eyes. A tattoo located below his lower lip. He stood up and threw his hand forward, Natsu shook it.

"Natsu." he introduced himself.

"I'm Wally." Another said as he intended to shake Natsu's hand too. _'Great, another weirdo..' _Natsu thought as he glanced at him. He was of average height and would probably look like a normal teen if not for his geometrical shape body which resembled blocks and his whole attire which wasn't the school uniform, but something a mafia boss would wear in a movie. Natsu reluctantly shook his hand and as he did: "Dandy!" Wally said, which made Natsu feel even weirder.

And Natsu looked at the third person who was still sitting in his seat looking at his monitor. This guy seemed kind of normal so Natsu came up to him and placed his hand forward, "Natsu."

The man tilted his head to see him, then stood up and shook his hand, "Simon." he said. He was a tall, muscular figure. His body was out of proportion as his massive arms looked huge compared to his overly thin legs. He had dark eyes and dark hair with two strands of it covering the upper front of his face.

"Nyaa!" Natsu couldn't help but feel something creeping up his spine every time he heard that. He didn't hate cats, he just thought it weird that someone would try to imitate one, "We're happy to have you, Natsu!" Millianna said with a smile which, to Natsu, resembled the number "3".

"Uuhhh.. I'm happy to be here, hehe.." Natsu said with an unsure laugh while scratching the back of his head. He was, at this point, at a serious loss for words.

"The lesson should be over in twenty minutes, the president's sure to come here when it is." the girl said, "This here's your table and your computer, while he comes back arrange it to your liking." she added with a smile. Natsu nodded and sat down, then turned on the compute and .much to Natsu's annoyance, it had nothing on it. He figured he should just stare at the screen pretending he's doing something until the president comes. Natsu really wanted to meet him, _'Erza praised him, after all..' _he thought.

And the next twenty minutes flew by. The whole time the veteran members of the club were interrogating the newbie, trying to figure out who he was. Natsu honestly had a hard time talking with them because all of them were so.. different. And then the door to the room opened and a blue haired man with brown eyes and a red tattoo above and below his right eye entered.

"Hello!" he waved to everyone, "I see we have a new member." he smiled as he walked up to Natsu.

"Natsu." he introduced himself as he stood up and shook the blue-haired man's hand.

"Gerard." he said.

"I thought you'd be.. taller." Natsu said with slight disappointment in his voice.

"And why's that?" Gerard asked with a slight laugh of amusement.

"Well, with Erza praising you, I thought you'd be a monster or something." Natsu answered.

Gerard couldn't help but laugh again. They talked for almost the whole hour, main topic being Erza, the other why Natsu joined and again Erza. Natsu found out that the two had been dating for some time now.

"You and her are dating? I seriously find that hard to believe." he said with shock in his voice.

"Yeah, I get that a lot. But why do you think that?" Gerard asked, the amused smile never leaving his face.

"I mean, you're like two totally different people. She's the demon president, and you're.. normal." Natsu said while scratching his head.

"Well.. She isn't a demon if you get to know her better." Gerard said, "She can even be cute at times." then added.

"Erza? Cute? You're joking, right?" Natsu asked and they both shared a laugh. He figured him and Gerard could be good friends if not for the mission, but Natsu had totally forgotten about it. He just loved the feeling of being in a school because he'd never been in one. All of his life he was fighting for survival, to be the strongest and to figure out what happened in his past. "Anyway, I'm going back to class, Erza's my classmate and you probably know what happens next if I'm late." Natsu said as he left the classroom.

Gerard laughed yet again, "Alright, be sure you're not late then." he said, _'He's an interesting one..' _he thought.

* * *

The rest of the day went by pretty fast. Natsu tried to harass Erza about Gerard and, to his surprise, he was successful, the reason for that being that Erza was always getting shy when talking about her boyfriend, which to her was a weakness. Natsu stopped after getting punched directly in the face and having a sword pointed at his neck. Okay, never again would he try to mock Erza like that. The lessons were finally over and Natsu was making his way towards the exit of the school. He noticed someone was talking and couldn't help but overhear.

"You got it?" Someone asked, to Natsu the voice sounded overly familiar.

"Yeah. What's next?" Another voice asked.

"Make sure Weitzman isn't traced back to us or we'll have problems." the first one said. After hearing that name Natsu peeked through the corner and noticed blue hair. Something struck him. It was Gerard. The thought of having a normal school life shattered right there and then for him as he remembered his mission completely. He clenched his fist in anger, but he didn't give himself away, he needed to hear what the both of them had to say.

"Got it." the other said as he disappeared. Gerard then stood still for a while and eventually tilted his head to look at the ceiling.

"You gonna show yourself, _Salamander_? I know you heard us." he said. Natsu's eyes widened in shock. _'How the hell does he know who I am?' _He was about to turn around the corner, but Gerard appeared right before him.

"How do you know that name?" Natsu asked with a stern voice unfazed by Gerard being able to use teleport magic.

"Does it matter?" Gerard asked glancing at him with a smile, "What matters is that you heard us and I know who you are, Dragon Slayer, the one who's responsible for Weitzman's and eight other Magic Saints's deaths." Gerard stated. Again, Natsu was shocked. How the hell did he know everything? Was there a leak in their own organization?

"How the-"

"Again, doesn't matter." Gerard interrupted Natsu with slight annoyance in his voice, "You carry on with your mission and I'll carry on with mine." then added, "Let's see if the paths we take collide." He said and grinned at Natsu before disappearing.

Natsu punched the wall to his side in anger, _'Damn it! How the hell does he know all that?'_ he exclaimed in his mind, _'I need to get to the bottom of this.' _the teen thought as he took his phone and texted his friend Ayame. He couldn't use magic to telepathically communicate with her because she had sealed his magic so no one could sense it.

_'Aya, we have a problem. Find out everything you can about a guy called Gerard Fernandez.'_

_'Why? What happened?'_

_'I think we might have a leak.'_

_'Got it. Come to our place when you're back.' _

* * *

**And it's done! Sorry for the shortness.. (Is it just me or am I apologizing waaaaay too much on every single thing I upload? xD)  
****Hope you enjoyed.**


	4. Something to look forward to

**Yooo. Some of you probably noticed that my location's changed from Lithuania to USA. That's because I'm gonna be staying in the states for the upcoming two months, working. And that will probably slow me down on writing. (Even more. Yeah, I know, I've been slacking on the updates, especially for FTH, and I have no excuse for that, just me being lazy. Though I promise to keep at it, bash myself if need be xD)**

**Kirazin: That's good. It means that I'm doing my job right** **:D**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

"Nothing?"

"Nothing besides him being an honor student. Nothing on his past or magical powers." Ayame replied with annoyance in her voice.

"Damn it!" Natsu exclaimed.

"You gonna explain what happened?" Rin asked while laying down on his bed.

Natsu sat on the same bed that Rin was laying on and gave a nervous sigh, then explained the whole situation, how Gerard knew who he was and what they did. Both Rin's and Ayame's eyes lit up with shock.

"We gotta go deal with him!" the black-haired teen exclaimed as he got up from his bed and grabbed his sword.

"Wait!" Natsu said as he gripped Rin's shoulder, "Aya, can you find out where he lives?" He asked the girl.

"Wait a sec.." Ayame replied as she turned her head back at the _Archive _spell's magic monitor, "Yeah. 24 Hives street, building 5, apartment 16, 4th floor."

"Good." Natsu said as he turned his gaze back to Rin, "Keep an eye on him and make sure you're not spotted." he ordered, Rin nodded as he made his way to the exit of the apartment, "And If you do get found out, make sure you don't blow up the entire district and just contact us, okay?" the pink-haired teen added.

"Alright alright, shut up." Rin exclaimed with annoyance as a tick formed on his forehead and he left.

"What are we going to do now?" the white-haired girl asked after a few seconds of silence which followed the sound of the closing door.

"Get me to _her_" he answered.

Ayame sighed, "When will you start calling her _mother_?" she asked.

"Never. She isn't my mother, so why should I?"

"Natsu.."

"Just do it already!" Natsu shouted.

Ayame leant back, startled, but immediately regained her composure. She wasn't about to argue with Natsu when he was in this state. Even she got scared sometimes when he was this angry. She nodded and placed two fingers on his forehead, closing her eyes.

Natsu, again, was in the small, dark, candle-lit room. He saw the same black-haired woman sitting on her chair reading some journal. He came up to her desk and smashed his hands against it, "What the hell?" He exclaimed.

The woman raised her head in surprise and shock, "What? What happened?"

"You know perfectly well what happened!" He said with the same tone.

"No! I don't! Will you stop shouting at me and explain what happened?" The woman asked slightly raising her tone.

"Gerard Fernandez. Who is he?" The boy asked, lowering the volume of his voice.

The black-haired woman raised an eyebrow, "I don't know." she said calmly.

"Don't bullshit me! He knows way too much about us!" Natsu shouted again. The woman's expression noted that she was completely stumped to what was happening so Natsu slowly explained, in detail, what Gerard said and how he said it and that, in the future, he might be a hindrance to their plans.

"There's either a leak, "Natsu said, "Or you're not telling me something." The teen hated the thought of the head of the operation not informing him of something, be it a change of plans or a new plan entirely. He dedicated all his life to this cause so it was only fair that he'd know everything, right?

"I take it you're already conducting an investigation of your own?" the woman asked.

"I am." he replied. After what Gerard said he didn't trust her enough to give her any details.

"Good. I'll look into it myself. I'll inform you if I find anything." And with that said, Natsu cut the thought projection spell.

"So?" Ayame asked.

"I'm going back to my apartment." Natsu grunted and left, leaving a puzzled Ayame behind.

* * *

The next morning Natsu was grumpy and angry. He didn't get a wink of sleep last night as he was worrying and trying to wrap his head around what Gerard had said and tried to figure out the best way to deal with this nuisance. Rin had kept surveillance on Gerard all night and swapped with Natsu because Natsu could keep an eye on him at school and this would give Rin a chance to get some sleep as he would, again, follow him when school would end.

Natsu was rushing down the hall to his classroom when he heard something that angered him even more:

"Did you hear about the president of the newspaper club?" some voice said.

"No, what happened?" Another replied.

"Apparently, due to the recent death of almost all the magic saints, he was given the position of one."

"What? Really? That's so awesome."

"Yeah, can you believe it? He's the youngest mage saint in history!" The first voice exclaimed.

Natsu was gritting his teeth. By that point, he was enraged. Not only did the newly appointed saint know who Natsu was, he used that opportunity for personal gain! Now it would be even harder to investigate him as the council gave each magic saint their own bodyguards due to the recent killings.

And Natsu made his way to class, trying his best to ignore everyone talking about the said blue-hair. He entered the class and quickly went to his seat, answering his friends' greetings with a simple wave of his hand.

"What's wrong Natsu?" Lucy asked as she saw the expression on the said teen's face.

"Bad night, don't ask Luce." he replied as he turned his gaze away to view the great blue sky through the window. He was lost in thought, again trying to figure out the best way to deal with the problem that has been gnawing at him. But Natsu failed to realize one thing.

"Why the gloomy expression?" a certain redhead asked as she sat down on her chair near where Natsu was.

"Hey Erza. I heard your boyfriend became a saint. Congrats." he replied, still looking through the window.

"Why are you congratulating me? It's not like I got the position." Erza stated with slight annoyance in her voice, "And how did you find out about this?"

"Rumors travel fast around here." he said while pointing at the back of the class where, yet again, someone was talking about the brand new saint.

"Oh.." Erza sighed, "But why are you so gloomy anyway? Shouldn't you be happy that your club's president achieved something like this?" she asked a little confused.

"I wonder.." he replied and the bell rung before he could say anything else and immediately after the teacher entered the class. And as the teacher started talking, he realized it, _'Wait.. Gerard is Erza's boyfriend.. Shit! That only complicates this even more!' _he exclaimed in his mind as his fingers bruised against the table, catching Erza's attention. She raised an eyebrow at the said teen, but didn't ask anything. She would, but not now as the lesson had already started and she was the council president. She can't break the rules now, can she?

* * *

After an hour class was finally over. Natsu stood up and immediately started making his way towards the exit of the class which the redhead noticed.

"Where are you going?" Erza asked.

"Clubroom." was the simple reply as he hurriedly stomped away, not minding the still confused girl he left behind.

"Nyaaa! Congratulations, Gerard!" Milliana exclaimed as Gerard entered the clubroom, the pendant which had the insignia of the Ten Mage Saints on his neck.

"Hello Milliana, and thanks." Gerard said with a smile. "Has Natsu shown up yet?" he asked.

"Nope. Haven't seen him ye-" She was interrupted by the door violently slamming open.

"Right here." Natsu shouted while entering the room and closing the door behind him, "Congrats on the.. "Promotion"" he said while forcing a smile, his eyes like the blades of daggers glaring at Gerard.

"Hey, thanks." Gerard replied as he stepped forward leaving the catwoman behind him, a grin appearing on his face, "It's pretty cool, you know?" he added.

"But aren't you afraid? I mean, the last nine saints were murdered.." Natsu shot back.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough." Gerard said as the grin on his face widened, "Won't we?" he added as he came closer to Natsu, "and don't worry about the bodyguards," he whispered, "They're already dead."

"What?" Natsu asked confused as Gerard walked past him.

"They were weak, useless and they got in the way." The blue-haired teen replied as he was near the entrance, "Milliana, can you organize everything for the next article?" he asked the girl standing behind them and watching the conversation, confused, "Milliana?" Gerard called out, making her snap out of whatever thoughts she was in and then she nodded, "Good, I leave everything in your care then."

"Gerard.." Natsu growled. He couldn't believe that this man would kill his own bodyguards, his own men who swore to protect him with their lives.

"Don't worry, I think we'll see each other again pretty soon." Gerard said and closed the door, leaving Natsu behind.

After a few seconds of silence, Milliana finally broke the ice, "What was that all about?" she asked while typing the new article on the computer.

Natsu sighed, "History, he's helping me with X000, when the council was created." He lied, "You need any help with that?" Natsu asked her when he noticed that there was a lot of material to use for the clubwork.

"Sure. Simon's notes are right there, try and see if you can make an article out of it, I'll check it once I'm done with this." The girl said with a smile, Natsu nodded, took Simon's notebook and went for his computer.

* * *

A good two hours later Natsu was making his way through the school's halls. He had finished helping Milliana an hour ago and went to his last lesson. Even though Natsu and Gerard had that conversation, he still couldn't figure out his true motives or even sense his magical power! Was he really that good at suppressing it? Natsu didn't know, which kept gnawing at him. If Gerard was made a saint, that in itself said that he had great magical power, but the fact that he would challenge Natsu made him wonder, was Gerard that strong, or just stupidly arrogant?

"Natsu!" he heard a female voice. He turned around only to see a familial blonde with an extremely generous chest area.

"What is it Lucy?"

"Just thought we could walk home together is all." The girl said as she walked past him. Natsu just shrugged and followed her out of the school.

"So what's gotten into you lately?" she asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

"Lucy.. I told you-" He was interrupted by the said friend.

"Yeah yeah, you told me you had a bad night, I don't buy that. I've noticed how you literally growl when you hear about our newly appointed saint." She said, surprising Natsu.

"Wha- I don't-"

"Natsu, drop the act. I can see something's wrong." The blond persisted.

Natsu sighed, "What do you want me to say?"

"Is it Erza?" she asked.

"Yeah.." he muttered without thinking twice. _'Wait.. what?'_

Lucy's eyes shot open wide as her face flushed red, "I knew it, you like her!" she exclaimed.

_'Oh shit.. what have I gotten myself into this time..' _he groaned inwardly, though he'd be lying if he said he didn't take interest in the council president, not in that way of course, "Yeah, I guess." Was all he said, he didn't know what to tell her anyway, so he figured he might as well use that excuse.

"But Natsu.. she's already taken.." she muttered in disappointment.

"You think I don't know that?" he said with an annoyed expression, his acting skills showing themselves.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Nothing." Was the simple reply before they were close to Natsu's apartment house, "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow Luce." He waved goodbye.

"Okay, you'll have to explain everything about what we just talked about then." She said… or more like ordered as she turned away and made her way to her own home. _'Great..' _Natsu sighed inwardly.

* * *

And the day went on, peacefully. He hadn't heard anything from Rin or Ayame about Gerard, which frustrated him. But the talk with Lucy made him think. Could he actually be interested in Erza? Sure, he said yes accidentally, but there was just something about her that.. aroused him, challenged him maybe, he couldn't explain it himself. He felt awkward about it, but at least it kept his thoughts away from Gerard. But then, of course, something popped up.

"Natsu! It's Rin!" Ayame exclaimed as she appeared in his room.

Natsu, unfazed by her sudden appearance because he was already used to it, instantly shot up off of his bed and turned to face her, "What is it?" he asked her, she put two fingers to his forehead, allowing him to use telepathy or rather thought communication.

_'Rin?'_

_'Natsu!'_

_'What's wrong?'_

_'It's Gerard!'_ Natsu's eyes widened as he subconsciously ignited a small flame on his palm, _'The guy's at Fourth Ave., you guys better come here, this looks suspicious.'_

_'We're on our way.'_

* * *

**Cliffhanger! I'm sorry.. Okay, maybe not, I just felt evil today. :D  
****As always - hope you enjoyed. :)**


	5. Confrontation

**Some drabble: This is my first time writing a fight scene where someone uses super powers, magic, etc. Criticism of any kind is accepted, as long as it isn't trolling. I want honest opinions whether or not I'm any good at this.**

**Thank you and enjoy.  
**

* * *

'_We're on our_ way.'And the thought communication spell was canceled.

Rin was crouching on a ten-story building, looking down to the street below, watching as four mysterious hooded figures made their way inside an abandoned building. The teen knew that one of those people was Gerard and he knew that this was something worth investigating. It was already night time, the street was empty and silent, not a single sound could be heard besides the wind blowing through the empty windows and holes in the walls of the house below causing a draft which made a whistling sound.

He paused for a second to think. Figuring that his friends would take some time to get here Rin waited for the four to enter the run down house before he jumped off the taller building, engulfing his feet with blue flames to cushion the landing as moments later he was already at street level. He silently landed and dispelled the blue flames from his feet so no one or nothing could notice him. Rin then simply ran to the abandoned house and pushed his back against the wall next to the front door. He took out a small knife out of his shirt's pocket and stuck it to the side of the door and ignited the hilt on fire, making sure that his friends knew that this was the place. He then placed his hand on the wooden surface and slowly pushed it open. The door made a few cracking noises, but nothing loud enough to alarm the people being followed. As it opened, Rin quickly dove inside, closing the door behind him.

The inside was even worse than the outside. Dust everywhere, pages of books scattered around the place, cobwebs on the walls, burn marks on the run down wallpapers. But what disturbed Rin the most was the smell of death and decay everywhere. _'Too bad the thought communication spell was cut off… Natsu's gonna have a pretty hard time in this place.' _He thought with a sweatdrop.

Rin silently wandered around the small building, scouting everything out. Much to his surprise and annoyance, the four had disappeared. He went through the creaking stairs to the second floor. The scenery there wasn't much different from the first floor, only that most of the windows were sealed shut with planks of wood which obscured the moonlight coming from outside and made the second floor pitch black. Rin had to ignite his finger to be able to see anything as he feared tripping on something. He made his way to the back of the main hall of the second floor where there was an entrance to what seemed to be a study, but it was nailed shut by planks of wood. Rin, who slowly started to lose his patience, bashed through the wood with the hilt of his sword. Looking around, making sure he didn't cause too much noise, he entered the study and before he could discern where he was, the wooden floor gave in, sending Rin crashing to the first floor, landing face first with charred wood and destroyed furniture landing on top of him.

A vein popped on Rin's forehead as he kicked the rubble off of him, coughing from the dust that scattered everywhere. He then froze after realizing how much noise he made. The teen shakily looked around to see if there was anyone around him, but only sweatdropped when he noticed how much damage he already caused. Rin then noticed something: in the room where he was, there weren't any doors. He figured that there must've been some sort of switch to a secret door and he gave a silent "meh" as he didn't care how he got in, as long as he did. He stood up, wiped the dust and dirt off of his clothes and resumed looking around. He noticed a huge fireplace, but what caught his attention wasn't the size of it, but the fact that it was bared up. Rin walked up to it and put his hands on two of the metal bars, raising the temperature of his palms he slowly melted the metal away, creating a gap large enough for him to fit through, but before entering, he lit up a torch with his blue flame so that his friends can discern that he was here. Nodding to himself, he went through the melted bars.

Again, Rin had to ignite his fingers as the place was bathing in darkness. He was walking on the rocky surface for a few minutes in a straight line when he stepped on something wooden. He stepped back and lowered his hand, lighting up the floor only to notice a trapdoor with a lock on it. Rin placed his ignited finger on the lock, burning it off and opening the trapdoor to reveal a ladder going down into the darkness. Rin couldn't make out the depth of the hole as it was too dark and the bottom wasn't even visible. He picked up a nearby twig and lit it on fire, then dropped it into the hole below and watched. As the small burning piece of wood fell down the chasm, the light it emitted grew fainter and fainter and eventually disappeared, making Rin sigh. He crouched still for a second before sitting down on the edge of the hole and then climbed on the ladder, placing his palms and feet on its sides and hastily started sliding down.

* * *

"How far is it?" Natsu asked as he jumped from one building to another.

"It should be right behind this building." Ayame answered as she followed Natsu and ran to the edge of the ten story building. They both looked down and saw a blue light coming from the door of an abandoned house. They nodded at each other and made their way down, Ayame using her teleportation magic while Natsu slid down the side of the building. After landing, they carefully made their way to the door and saw the knife Rin stuck on the door.

"This is the place." Ayame whispered.

"Come on, let's go." Natsu said eagerly as he put the blue fire out by grasping the hilt of the knife with his palm. He took the knife out and placed it in his shirt's inner pocket figuring that they shouldn't waste weapons, especially when Natsu would prefer not break the seal which hid his magic. He pushed the wooden door open and entered, Ayame followed, closing the door behind them and sealing it so no civilians or enemy back-up could enter the area.

Ayame turned to Natsu, "Hey, look for any secre-" she stopped when she saw how green Natsu's face was.

"This smell…" he gasped.

Even the girl could smell it. The stench of death.

She looked around, hoping to find a secret passage they could use to get as far away from this smell as possible. She felt sick from the smell, so she couldn't even imagine how her friend was feeling with his heightened senses.

Ayame saw a bookcase, and with the situation being what it was, she figured she should investigate it, who knows, maybe someone's still using the classic bookcase passage. She flipped through the books and noticed a magical pentagram on the wall behind it. She recognized the pattern of the seal.

"Natsu, I've found something." She waved for her pink-haired friend to come closer, "This seal's going to take some time to crack-" she was saying, but was interrupted by Natsu who rose a fist.

"I don't think my nose will last that long." He exclaimed before planting his fist through the wall, destroying it in the process.

"Well that's one way of cracking it, I suppose." She said with a sweatdrop as Natsu stepped forward. They noticed the hole in the ceiling and both nodded in understanding that that was Rin's job, then both Ayame and Natsu went to the fireplace where a torch lit with Rin's flame was.

"He definitely went through here." Natsu said silently as he took the torch and went through the melted bars to the fireplace, "Come on." He said with a nod towards the dark passage. The girl nodded and followed.

* * *

After a good five minutes of sliding, Rin finally reached the bottom of the hole. He climbed of the ladder and turned around, noticing a large wooden door with different black ornaments on it. He thought he had seen those symbols before somewhere, but he didn't have time to reminisce it and just opened the door, revealing a large hall where the four stood. The hall was fairly large, with six pillars on each side supporting the balconies of the second floor. There were three candles on each pillar and a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The walls behind the pillars were covered with red banners which sported the same black symbols the door had. A long red carpet strung out through the middle of the hall where three of the four stood, the last person was a few steps further, sitting on a throne of sorts.

Rin quickly and silently went through the door and closed it behind him. He hid behind one of the pillars, trying to listen in on what the four were talking about.

"Where is everyone?" The man who stood near the throne asked as he sat down.

"Dead, my lord." One of the three below him spoke with a feminine voice, "We made sure to leave the place clean before you arrived."

"Good." The first one said with a chuckle, "Now. Show yourself." He said, Rin's eyes widened, he couldn't be talking about him, could he? Rin's entrance was flawless, he couldn't have been spotted. But his worries were confirmed when a yellow magical laser shot through the pillar, Rin barely managed to dodge it by tumbling to the side, revealing himself.

"My lord, please don't destroy our new hideout." The same feminine voice pleaded.

"Who the hell are you?" Rin exclaimed as he slowly stood up, holding his sword, ready for battle.

"You should know, you've been following me for the past week, after all." The man on the throne said as he stood up, removing his hood to reveal a familiar red tattoo and blue hair.

"Gerard." Rin growled. The said man grinned and without further warning placed his hand forward and shot another beam of magic, catching Rin off guard. Rin, knowing he didn't have time to unsheathe his sword, raised his hands in a defensive X formation and readied himself for impact, but it never came. He heard a blast and a flash of light, but he didn't feel anything. He opened his eyes and saw a familiar figure with pink hair. "Natsu!"

"You should've waited for us, Rin!" The newly arrived teen stated as he tilted his head to see if his friend was alright, "I'm glad you're uninjured."

"That makes two of us." Rin replied with a smirk.

"Three, actually." Ayame said as she walked up closer to the boys and smiled at Rin's direction, which the teen returned with a hearty grin.

"Finally! The main event!" Gerard spoke.

"What the hell are you doing in a dark guild's base?" Ayame asked him while her eyes were wandering around the hall.

"A dark guild?" Rin questioned Natsu curiously.

"Yeah." Natsu nodded, "The symbols on the banners. It's Tartaros." He stated.

"What? One of the Balam alliance?" Rin Exclaimed, Natsu nodded again.

"That's easy. It's our base now." Gerard stated as a grin formed on his face.

"Why the need for a base? And where're the members of Tartaros?" Ayame raised an eyebrow.

"Well, a place to stash bodies would be a start." Gerard said as he pointed towards three dead bodies, all of them having the council's insignia on their clothes. "And Tartaros… Well, they're dead." He stated with a laugh. Something in Natsu snapped.

"You bastard!" the pink-haired teen shouted as he jumped at him.

"Not so fast." The cloaked female figure stated as she drew her sword and slashed down creating a gust of wind that blew the pink-haired teen away.

"The hell was that?" Natsu exclaimed as he landed and regained his composure.

"You three, deal with them." Gerard stated as he turned around and walked past the throne, he pressed his arm on the wall behind it, its bricks started to magically fold back and formed a passageway.

"Wait!" Natsu exclaimed and charged again, but much to his annoyance, the same swordswoman stood in his way, this time appearing right in front of him, swinging her sword down vertically. Natsu barely had time to sidestep and avoid the attack, but was met with a large fist which sent him flying backwards, crashing into one of the pillars.

"Natsu!" Ayame exclaimed. She ran up to him and helped him stand up.

"I'm fine, don't worry." He reassured her. "Who are these three?" he asked himself when he noticed who had sent him flying. It was a large though hooded figure, shadows covering his face. It seemed as though this man had a… beak?

"Oh yes, we haven't introduced ourselves yet." The swordswoman said as she threw her cloak off, revealing long bright pink hair, peach skin and green eyes, a beauty mark under both of her eyes. She wore a long, slightly loose kimono with a red stripe in between two black stripes around the waist. A symbol at the bottom of her dress which Natsu instantly recognized. "Ikaruga." She introduced herself.

"Death's Head Caucus, huh..?" Natsu mumbled.

"Death's what?" Rin asked, confused.

"Death's Head Caucus, a dark guild of assassins." Ayame explained.

The other two figures threw off their cloaks. One of them was bizarre to say the least. He was a large figure with the body of a man but the head of an owl, as well as a rocket pack strapped to his back. His body was muscular with most of it bare, his clothing were a pair of green short tights held up by a belt. "Ho ho hou!" The bird-man screeched, causing Natsu and the others to sweatdrop, "Fukuro!"

The third one, compared to Fukuro, didn't look bizarre, but crazy. He was a mildly muscular man of average height and he had extremely long black hair, which reached down far below his feet. It is parted in the middle and has two bangs reaching down below his waist framing his face. His skin pale, dark-blue make up around his eyes and lips. He's bare-chested, with a tattoo visible on his chest. He sports shoulder pads and armguards covered in spikes. His lower body covered by tights held up by a belt with a skull-shaped buckle. "Vidaldus Taka! I'll send you to the deepest parts of HELL!" He shouted as a guitar appeared in his arms, he strummed it madly, releasing a hellishly disgusting tune and started to swing his hair around wildly.

"Trinity Raven…" Ayame muttered.

"Oh, so you know of us? I'm honored." The leader of the three, Ikaruga, smiled.

Suddenly, the floor beneath them started to shake, it started shining as a chess board, forming cubes. The floor started shifting with most of the cubes flying up in the air, leaving about fifteen cubes still on ground level. Natsu, Ayame and Rin were taken by surprise, Rin almost falling off his cube, while the three assassin mages stood still, unfazed. Finally, after a minute or two of waiting for the arena to form, the cubes arranged themselves in three lines with one person of one team standing on one end of the line, while a person from the other team stands on the other end. It was as if the arena itself was lining them up against each other: Ayame's cube lined up to Fukuro's, Rin's to Vidaldus's and Natsu's to Ikaruga's. Large gaps in between each of the lines to prevent the teammates to help one another. Each had to stand for themselves in a one versus one battle as dark barriers started engulfing the lines, taking them to different dimensions, giving them more space to fight. Noticing this, Natsu suddenly collected a large amount of energy into his feet and jumped to Rin's line, suddenly grabbing and tossing Rin back to his line in the process, surprising the sword wielding teen.

"What the hell?" Rin exclaimed as he landed on Natsu's former line. "You could've dropped me!" he then exclaimed as he looked down to the abyss below them.

"You're better at fighting against swords than I am." Natsu stated as Rin's barrier closed up.

"But he's bad against women, you know." Ayame sighed as her barrier closed.

Natsu glared at Vidaldus as the barrier around him and the metal freak started closing up. Vidaldus started swinging his hair around again while strumming the same hellish note he did before, "Welcome to Hell!" he exclaimed, shooting different purplish beams toward Natsu, "WHAHAHAHA-" his mad laughter was interrupted by Natsu, who in unimaginable haste charged him and forced his fist through Vidaldus's instrument, breaking it in half and hitting him straight on his stomach. Vidaldus spat out blood as the pain got to him. He could feel the force of the punch reach his spine, almost breaking it in half same as his cherished guitar. Vidaldus was sent flying, crashing through the barrier and breaking it, then landing face first and destroying the hard throne that Gerard was sitting on.

The barrier that couldn't even close up in time around him shattered, more cubes flew in and made a path for Natsu to continue forward to where Gerard was. _'So this is all a game to you, Gerard?' _Natsu growled inwardly as he started to run towards the passageway that the said blue-haired saint had opened up.

* * *

"Damn him…" Rin exclaimed as he slowly stood up, his sword in his hand, still sheathed. As the barrier closed up they found themselves in a different dimension. Rin was standing on a large red, wooden bridge over a river with small islands surrounding it and a cherry blossom tree on every island.

"Seems like your friend got scared." Ikaruga chuckled.

"Scared?" Rin asked, surprised, then started laughing mockingly, "Gerard is his target, not you. I bet you your metal freak friend is already licking the ground."

"Maybe. He is the weakest one of us, after all." The pink haired assassin smiled nonchalantly, her expression indicating that she didn't give much thought to the outcome of her teammate's fight as she really didn't care.

Rin ran straight at her, he wanted to test her skills before he could determine if blood needed to be spilled. As he ran, Ikaruga raised her sword, "Not gonna work!" Rin shouted as he kept charging at her, but then he noticed something strange about his opponent's sword and he quickly jumped up, avoiding a gust of air flying by the ground where he was previously running. Ikaruga smirked, then again slashed her sword so fast that Rin could barely notice it. He flipped in the air two times, propelling himself forward to dodge any incoming attacks and landed behind her, one knee on the ground.

"So you noticed it? You're good." The assassin smiled, "It's been a long time since anyone dodged my attacks like that." Then added as she bumped the ground with her blade's end. As the sword touched the ground five wounds appeared on each of Rin's arms and legs, some blood spilling out of every cut. Rin's eyebrow twitched as he felt the stings. He looked through the cuts, _'Damn. Half a millimeter closer and I would've lost my limbs. Got to be careful against this one.' _He thought. Rin, without second warning, quickly turned to face her again and charged, this time grasping his sword's hilt with his right hand, ready to unsheathe it and strike. Ikaruga smirked to this and waited for the teen to come in range, thinking of taking the blow head on. But she was surprised. Rin, who was a few feet from clashing swords with Ikaruga, without waiting, suddenly took his sword out of his scabbard at unimaginable speed. A flash of blue flames erupted and an explosion followed, shaking the ground they stood on, blue flames engulfing the whole bridge.

* * *

"_**Hanketsu Hou! (Judgement**** Hou!)**_"The birdman screeched as he fired a blast of energy from his fist towards Ayame, who dodged by teleporting to a different platform. It was easy for the girl to dodge the incoming attacks as her teleportation magic made it easy for her to maneuver in this dimension, which was a bottomless tower, which went both up and down in an infinite loop, magical platforms hovering inside it, acting as stepping stones.

Ayame leapt through the platforms as Fukuro continued to barrage her with his energy attack. "Stay still!" The bird man exclaimed as he readied himself for a different attack, "_**Jetto Ho Ho Hou! (Jet Ho Ho**** Hou)**_" He declared as the rocket pack behind him started emitting more power, propelling him towards the white haired girl. Expecting this, she easily dodged it by jumping upwards, but what she didn't expect was the birdman's maneuverability. Fukuro easily turned to his side and resumed his flight, attacking the now airborne girl and slamming through her with his shoulder.

The white-haired girl gasped for air as the brunt of the attack hit her stomach and sent her flying downwards the abyss. Quickly regaining her composure and kicking off the tower's side she stabilized her falling position and teleported back on a platform. Fukuro, slightly annoyed at the girls persistence, started flying circles around her, firing off energy blasts at her. Ayame, awed at how many blasts were heading her way, needed to think fast if she wanted to get out of this barrage alive.

She quickly crouched down, placing both her hands on the magical platform, "_**Shīrudo: Henkō! (Shield:**** Deflector)**_" She shouted and a golden bubble formed around her, deflecting the blasts. Not giving him a chance to circle her again, Ayame swiftly dispelled the shield magic and threw both her hands forward and shot a golden blast at her enemy. Fukuro dodged the blast with ease, but was surprised as even more of the same lasers were heading his way. He flew through them all, some of them grazing his muscles. Finally tired of being on the defensive he turned to his side and shot towards Ayame with his '_**Jetto Ho Ho Hou**_'. As he was at close range, he noticed that the girl couldn't possibly avoid the attack at this distance so he increased the speed, going for the kill. Fukuro raised his arm, crashing through Ayame with his muscles, splitting her in half. What was left of her body fell down the abyss, while Fukuro watched.

"Judgement has been passed in the name of Justice!" the owl like man shouted.

"Justice? Hah. Don't make me laugh." A voice above Fukuro shouted, catching the owl-man's attention. He looked up, only to notice the same white-haired girl standing on a platform fifty feet above him. "How can a thug from an assassin guild talk about Justice? That's just too unrealistic." The girl stated, aggravating Fukuro. He again raised the power to his rocket pack, charging upward to strike the girl down.

_'Gotcha!'_ Ayame exclaimed inwardly with a smirk on her face. She placed her hands forward, widening the gaps between her fingers as her left hand's index finger and thumb met her right's index and thumb, creating a gap between her palms that acted as a crosshair. Fukuro in her sights, she shouted, "_**Tentai no Baindingu! (Celestial Bindings)**_" and the gap between her hands started glowing as it shot a wide beam towards her enemy. The owl man, unable to move out of the way as he was charging upward too fast, was engulfed in the blinding light that the girl above him sent. In an instant, his whole body was covered in black runes, stopping him in his tracks and rendering him unable to move, but he wasn't falling down, he was hovering.

"What is this?" Fukuro exclaimed.

"A binding spell. Don't bother struggling, you'll be dead before you get out of it." Ayame replied.

Not heeding Ayame's warning, Fukuro started to shout madly as he gave all of his strength into shattering his sealed state. At first, he just looked like an idiot, screaming while hovering in the middle of the air, not moving, but then Ayame saw how his body started to shiver and slowly his hands were moving, stretching the runes on his body out. _'Shit.' _The girl sighed inwardly and jumped down the platform, landing on another at Fukuro's height, where there were five pentagram seals etched on the wall, creating a large circle.

The bird-man noticed this, "Wha- How did I not see this?"

"Because I didn't want you to." The girl simply stated. She then placed her hand in the middle of the circle, each one of the pentagrams started glowing golden as it collected the magical energy around them. "Goodbye, Fukuro." She said and jumped upwards to another platform to be able to avoid the blast as she made the same handsign. Using her palms as a crosshair, she targeted the struggling man, "_**Gobōsei Shīru: Hakai! (Pentagram Seal: Destruction)**_" and a huge golden laser below her erupted from the five seals etched in a circle, engulfing half the tower and shooting through its other wall, taking the bird-man with it in a powerful inferno of magical energy.

As the magical energy dissipated and the dust cleared it revealed an enormous hole in both walls of the tower caused by the powerful sealing spell. The tower, due to the holes made in its walls, started crumbling. Ayame had to dodge some of the debris heading her way before the dimension itself started cracking. The barrier which held her in the other dimension broke apart, taking her back to the same hall where she was previously. She looked around the hall while the cubes formed into a pathway leading towards the throne. Ayame noticed that there was only one barrier spell left – Rin's. The middle one, Natsu's, was already broken, she turned to the throne while walking towards it and saw the man known as Vidaldus Taka laying on the floor, his spine bent in a shape that she had never seen before, though it didn't surprise her. She knew that Natsu was in no mood to fight someone's lackeys. She pressed on, confident that Rin would defeat the last member and leader of Trinity Raven.

* * *

Rin jumped out of the blue inferno he himself had just caused. His appearance had slightly changed after unsheathing his _**Kōmaken(Demon-Slaying Sword)**_, the _**Kurikara**_. Blue flames now engulfed his whole body, his hair grew wilder and spikier as two flames resembling horns grew on the top front of his head. Rin's ears growing longer and pointier, resembling elf ears, his teeth, especially his Canine teeth, growing sharper as quiet growls were heard through his breathing, his pupils became red while his indies remained a bright blue, the tip of his tail surrounded by his flames. Rin readied himself for battle. He knew that this kind of sucker punch wouldn't defeat one of the strongest mages of this assassin's guild. Surely enough, Ikaruga leapt to the other side of the bridge from the flames, the left sleeve of her Kimono charred from the surprise attack. She landed as the flames on the bridge disappeared and shifted her gaze to inspect her enemy.

"A _**Kōmaken**_… That's why I couldn't sense any magical power from you, _**Akuma No Ryoushi**_ _**(Demon Hunter)**_" The woman smiled. Demon Hunters were rare, extremely rare, but extremely powerful too. Most Demon Hunters had the power of a demon at their side, most of them being born from human/demon parents, and Rin's father was none other than Satan himself.

"It's time we end this, Ikaruga!" Rin shouted, his voice sounded huskier after the transformation to half-demon. He slashed his sword downwards, blue flames erupting from it and heading straight for his enemy. Though much to Rin's dismay, his flames were cut in half and disappeared. _'Just as I thought.'_

The woman chuckled, "That won't work, my dear. My sword_**, Mugetsu-Ryu (Form of the Moonless Sky)**_, can cut through **ANYTHING**." She noted the word and smirked.

"Well, sorry," Rin smirked back, "But my flames ain't anything." He said and charged, swinging his sword around while running, sending multiple slashes of flame directly towards his enemy.

She smiled again, "_**Yasha Senkū (Yasha's Empty Flash)**_" she murmured and every single attack sent her way was destroyed without her even raising her sword. Rin's eyes widened in shock, but he continued his attack, sending another slash towards her legs and then jumping up in the air while being propelled by flames on his feet. While in the air he swiftly changed his position, his head shifting to the direction of his enemy as the fire on his feet gained more momentum and he charged Ikaruga head-on.

The pink haired woman, unfazed by the flames heading towards her from below, simply jumped up towards Rin's direction, surprising him yet again as she met him face to face, their swords clashing. Due to her magic, most of Rin's flames were blown away and he himself was knocked back. After landing, Ikaruga swiftly swung her sword a few times, sending more gusts of wind towards Rin's direction. He dodged almost all of them, but one connected, slashing his left shoulder, rendering his left hand unusable.

"Argh..!" he grunted in pain.

"It's not over yet!" The woman grinned as she started slowly spinning around, her sword bruising the bridge beneath her, creating a flaming circle, "_**Karura-en (Garuda Flame)**_" she said and a straight line of bright red flames crashed down through the whole bridge, destroying it. Rin barely managed to dodge by slashing to the side and shooting flames from his sword, propelling him out of danger.

The force of his flame was too strong as it pushed Rin straight through one of the many cherry blossom trees that were surrounding the now destroyed bridge. He tumbled through the small island, falling into the river. While sinking down, Rin was lost in his thoughts. _'Damn… This woman's something else. I need to get rid of that sword if I want to win this.' _He nodded to himself and jumped from the bottom of the river above it, where he was met with the gaze of a certain pink-haired assassin.

"_**Karura-en**_." She stated with a smirk as more flames crashed down, engulfing the young demon slayer.

Hit with the full force of the attack, Rin's clothes were burned to a crisp and he was sent flying and landed face first into an island. He was lying on the ground, panting. It's no wonder Ikaruga was considered to be one of the most fearsome assassins in the land, she caught him completely off-guard, more so at the fact that there was no effective way of fighting her because of her blade that would cut off every single attack Rin would make.

After resting for a few seconds, Rin slowly and shakily got up. All that was left of his clothes were his pants, and even those were burned from the feet to the ankles. He gripped his sword tightly and more flames surrounded him. His wounds already started healing due to his demon blood, which slowly started to go out of control.

"Regeneration, huh…" The woman raised an eyebrow, "Good, I was hoping you would give me more of a fight."

"That sword…" Rin growled.

"You don't like it?" Ikaruga chuckled, but before she could react, the young demon hunter was already in front of her, slashing down with flames behind his blade. The assassin, surprised by the teen's sudden change in speed and strength, barely blocked the incoming blade and dispelled his flames. She tried stepping back, but was met with more brash attacks.

"ARGHH!" Rin roared as he kept swinging his sword at the assassin, not letting her catch her breath. His flames were going out of control, regenerating every time Ikaruga dispelled them with her magic.

The woman, tired of his rampage, kicked Rin in the stomach, using his body as a stepping stone to push herself away and knock him back in the process. The woman landed on some rubble that was floating on the river left from the now destroyed bridge. She eyed the teen demon slayer who stood up almost as fast as he was beaten down. The sudden change in him surprised the assassin. Rin's pupils were distorted, his hair grew out even wilder and teeth grew even sharper. The growling from him breathing now was even more noticeable. The flames around him expanded, burning everything in its path.

"Ikaruga!" Rin growled. Even though Rin was in his most vulnerable mental state as his flames were slowly taking over his mind, he still had some control. He could still fight.

"_**Karura-en**_" The woman attacked again, not taking the chance of the demon slayer going on a rampage again. As the flames were heading towards Rin, he got a surprising idea. He collected every bit of energy he had left in his sword and charged the attack head on, entering the deadly scarlet blaze.

Ikaruga, now confident of her victory, was surprised when her enemy emerged from her own attack, catching her off guard and placing his flame-enhanced _**Kōmaken**_above her, ready to cut her in half.

"_**Jigoku no Jikkō! (Hell's Execution)**_" Rin shouted and swung his sword down, causing an explosion of blue flames.

The attack was strong enough to shatter the dimension they were stuck in.

After the dust had settled, Rin opened his eyes. He was back at the dark guild's hall, every single cube back in its place as he noticed that his barrier was the last one.

"That attack… I can't believe you caught me like that." Rin heard a voice behind him and turned around while gripping his sword tighter, ready for battle. What he saw shocked him. Ikaruga was sitting on the ground, her back against one of the hall's pillars. She was coughing up blood as there was a deep wound going from her shoulder through her stomach. Rin's expression softened, even though she was his enemy, the fight was over, he couldn't let her die like that.

"Ikaruga.." Rin mumbled and then there was a large tremor caused by some explosion. Rin could feel the magical power of the one who shook the ground around them. He needed to be there, with his friends.

"Go. I'm dead anyway." The woman ordered. Rin could only sigh at how fast she was willing to throw her life away. He placed his hand on her head and gave her some of his own demonic energy. Not enough to fight, but enough for the supernatural regeneration to kick in and her wound to close up and save her life, "What did you..?" The woman asked confused.

"Saved your life." Rin stated. The teen then turned around and went towards the exit behind the now destroyed throne. He needed to rejoin his friends and help them fight against the one last enemy that stood in their way – Gerard.

_'He's an interesting one.'_ Ikaruga smiled as she watched the black-haired teen leave the hall, _'He had almost lost control over his flames, but at the last second he managed to snap out of it and use the monstrous energy boost of his demonic side to launch one last devastating attack… He'll go far if he manages to control it fully.' _She wondered before closing her eyes and losing consciousness.

* * *

"Gerard!" Natsu screamed while in pursuit of the blue-haired man.

"I felt Vidaldus going down first. So it was you." Gerard stopped and grinned. Without warning, Natsu charged, lunging at him with a fist which Gerard dodged by teleporting to the side, Natsu's fist going through a wall and hitting an energy lacrima which powered this part of the complex, causing an explosion, shaking the whole underground base.

The lights around them started to flicker as dust engulfed the whole corridor. Quickly going to emergency power, the lighting stabilized and a beam sent by Gerard hit Natsu directly, scattering the floating dust to the sides.

"Ugh!" Natsu groaned as he was sent flying back from the impact and hit the wall to the side, creating a small crater on it.

"Haha! Not yet, Salamander!" Gerard laughed and again started running down the hall towards a large room engulfed by light.

"Stop!" Natsu shouted as he quickly got up and continued chasing after his target. A few moments later Natsu passed through the shining passage which apparently was a gateway leading to another dimension. As the pinkette crossed it, he found himself in a dark place which was covered with dark, old, cracked bridges acting as stepping stones. It felt as if he was in space, transparent red line-like lights, which looked like the northern lights, were covering breaches of the dimension with a bottomless abyss below him.

Upon crossing the gateway, Natsu felt the absence of ground as he fell down, barely managing to grab the side of one of the bridges littering the mysterious dimension. He pulled himself and started looking around for his enemy.

"_**Ten no hikari! (Heavenly Beams)**_" Natsu heard someone shout from above and looked up only to see several brightly glowing beams heading his way. Instinctively, Natsu swiftly jumped off of the platform he was standing on and as the magic hit it, it was shattered to pieces, debris coming from it falling down into the dark abyss below. Natsu skillfully flipped in the air, using the shockwave from the blasts to propel himself on to another platform.

Upon landing, Natsu immediately readied for a reply to his enemy's surprise attack, gathering magical power to his mouth he shouted "_**Karyū no Hōkō! (Fire Dragon's Breath)**_" and with that said, exhaled a blast of flames in a line which later formed into a massive fireball and ascended upwards. Crashing through some of the already cracked bridges, it finally exploded in a huge radius and sending a huge shockwave which destroyed even more bridges. The remaining flames gathered creating a ball-like orb of destruction, sparks and debris raining from it. Natsu immediately felt the strain on his body caused by the seal Ayame had made. _'Strange… It should've broken when I used_ _magic.'_

Suddenly, the flames broke apart to reveal an angry Gerard in free-fall, his clothes burned and some blood gushing out from his now bare chest as it received the brunt of the attack, "_**Tentai Mahō: Ryūsei! (Heavenly Body Magic: Meteor)**_" Gerard shouted as a golden aura formed around him, stopping his fall and enabling him the ability to fly. At incredible speed, Gerard flew straight for Natsu and reached the Dragon Slayer in a matter of seconds, punching him straight to the face and sending him crashing through the platform he stood on. As Natsu was falling, he tried to use his flames to propel himself to land on another platform, but that strategy flew out the window as Gerard, using his incredible speed, appeared behind the falling Natsu and kicked him his back and sent him flying upwards, crashing through more of the bridges.

The pink-haired mage gasped from the pain as his back was smashed with incredible strength and sent him flying. Knowing full well that Gerard would use his speed to attack again, Natsu focused on his senses. As he heard his enemy approaching, Natsu lined up his arms and legs, forming an X with his body, "_**Karyū no Bōgyo-Tekina Nenshō (Fire Dragon's Defensive Combustion)**_" he shouted, closing his eyes as flames erupted from his whole body in a blinding light and caused multiple small yet powerful explosions around him. Gerard was blinded by the surprise attack's caused light and lost his sense of direction for one split moment and was hit by the explosions, one near his back, sending him even farther into the vortex of fire energy.

Gerard screamed in pain from the damage caused by the multiple explosions that littered his body and sent him flying downwards through three platforms. As the momentum of his fall died down, he crash landed on the fourth platform, creating a crater where his body touched down.

Natsu, who was seemingly losing his magical power too fast, barely managed to land on one of the platforms that were still hovering in the air. Panting, he tried to catch his breath, wondering what could have caused this change in him. Soon, realization struck him. _'Don't tell me…'_

"It seems like you've figured it out." Gerard chuckled as he appeared before Natsu on the same platform the Dragon Slayer was. It seemed that Gerard, apart from his clothes, wasn't damaged that much. He had some small cuts and burns on his body, a scratch on his left cheek with blood gushing out from it.

"What did you do to my seal!" Natsu exclaimed as the exhaustion he was feeling got even worse. He fell to one knee, grasping the left side of his chest as he felt it harder to breathe.

"It's this dimension." The young Saint smiled, "It changes the properties of magical seals, seemingly making them more dangerous."

"Wha- ARGH!" Natsu exclaimed as Gerard sent a beam of magical energy at Natsu, exploding on impact and sending the young mage backwards a few feet.

"What? Did you think I'd come unprepared?" Gerard spoke while laughing like a maniac, "After I acquired the knowledge to create this dimension, it was easy to lure you here." He stated with a grin.

"Lure me here? What do you mean?"

"Don't play stupid!" the Saint exclaimed in anger, "You think I'd let someone as powerful and dangerous as you roam freely around Magnolia? After what you did to the other saints? Do you take me for a complete fool!"

"What's your part in all this?" Natsu asked as he shakily stood up, still panting from the lack of breath.

"Now that would be telling." Gerard smirked.

Natsu, seemingly annoyed with the reply, shouted, "Then I guess if I don't have much stamina, I'll just have to cast a large enough spell to kill you where you stand!" as bright red flames covered his arms, expanding around him, "_**Doragon Fōsu! (Dragon Force)**_" he stated as dragon scales started covering his skin, his indies went yellow and his black pupils stretched out vertically, resembling dragon eyes. Natsu's magical energy exploded as shockwaves followed his aura, cracking the dimension around them. He then raised his hands in an X formation near his head, unclenching his fists as small golden flames appeared on his palms, "_**Guren: Shōgekiha o Bakuhatsu! (Crimson Lotus: Exploding Shockwave)**_" He shouted, but before his flame attack could begin, he was interrupted:

"Don't be so full of yourself!" Gerard shouted with a grin as he used his teleportation magic to teleport behind Natsu. Touching the Dragon Slayer's back with his palm, he blasted him back with bare magical energy, shattering the clothes on his back and canceling his finisher magic. Natsu groaned in pain as the hit shook his spine, paralyzing him for a brief moment. But that moment was all Gerard needed to place his finger on Natsu's bare back where the black dot made by Ayame's sealing magic was, tattoos of black chains coming out of the dot, indicating that the spell was countering Natsu's magic and, due to the effect of the dimension they were in, were exhausting his body.

"_**Shīru: Shinikami no Haaku (Seal: Death God's Grasp)**_" he stated as his finger lit up with a black magical aura and he placed it on Natsu's seal. The chain's retracted, surprisingly relieving the stress Natsu's body was feeling. Natsu, noticing this, used the opportunity and swung with his back hand which Gerard dodged by stepping back.

Not bothering to ask what was it that Gerard did, Natsu quickly started gathering his magical power to his mouth, ready to cast another "_**Karyū no Hōkō" **_but started coughing as he felt immense pain in his body, the coughed out magical energy exploded, knocking Natsu back.

Gerard only laughed.

"W-what the h-hell..?" Natsu exclaimed shakily. He then noticed it. The chains from his seal crept up his limbs. But there was one difference. The tattoo's now had spikes on them, slashing through the dragon slayer's skin, opening deep wounds.

"I made a modification to your seal." Gerard grinned.

Natsu slowly stood up again, refusing to back down as a result from this meager nuisance. He tried collecting magical power again, "_**Karyū** **no**_-AGH!" He screamed, falling down again as the chains extended through his neck towards his cheeks, creating even more wounds. As a last resort, Natsu took out Rin's knife, the one that he unstuck from the door of the house above the dark guild's base, channeling magical power through it, the blade of the knife started glowing red with Natsu's magical power which he weakly but surely through at Gerard, but to no avail, as Gerard tilted his head and the blade flew inches past his left ear.

Natsu felt enormous pain travelling through his entire body, he screamed out in pain, coughing up some blood.

"You should be careful, Salamander. The chains cover your internal organs as well." Gerard laughed again.

Suddenly, the dimension they were in started to distort and shake, shards of the barrier crashing down.

"Seems like your magical power from before created your own coffin." The blue-haired stated as he engulfed himself in a golden aura, igniting his _**Ryūsei**_spell and flying upwards towards the biggest crack. "Too bad, Salamander, I hoped you were more of a challenge than this." He uttered in disappointment before disappearing through the crack.

Natsu watched as the barrier around him shattered. Debris of both the bridges above him and the barrier itself crashing around him. Natsu tried moving, but stopped as the pain he felt worsened, his vision started getting blurry as he spat out more blood.

"Damn it… DAMN IT!" He shouted as he slowly lost consciousness.

* * *

**8k words. Wow, I'm surprised with myself, that's a new record!** **Hehe.**  
**I tried using Japanese names for attacks and such, as I find that it gives more emotion to it. Dunno, maybe it's just me. There might be a few mistakes somewhere in there though.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading. :)**


	6. A Warning

**Back to the usual amount of words, hehe.  
****Oh and I noticed that someone changed the first chapter from bold to normal letters. I don't know whether a mod or the website itself did it, but I figure my thanks are necessary, so... uhh, thanks. :D**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

"Damn it… DAMN IT!" Natsu shouted as he slowly lost consciousness.

"**Get up.**"

Natsu drifted into the depths of his subconscious, falling into a dark abyss. Finally, he stopped, his clothes ripped from his body as he was engulfed in chains glowing red from the heat emanated. Even though he was the Fire Dragon Slayer, the chains burned through Natsu's skin, with it instantly healing itself and the process repeating itself. The feeling sent excruciating pain through his whole body, almost driving him insane. Through his own screaming from the pain caused by the chains, Natsu could barely hear a fearsome growl near him, his eyes shot open as he finally figured out where he was.

"This is… no…" Natsu barely muttered.

He heard a growl which was followed by a roar as a dark figure appeared before him, "**Pathetic.**" The figure exclaimed as a grin formed on the creature's face. Both its deadly eyes and the grin it showed shone a bright red. "**How can you, my vessel, be defeated by something as weak as this?**"

"Shut up!" Natsu shouted from the bottom of his lungs as his whole body shivered.

"**Scared?**" The predator in front of him laughed menacingly. It had the body of a human yet its whole entity was covered by shadows. The top of its head covered with black spikes that resembled hair similar to Natsu's, its hands covered in spikes with its claws long and sharp.

"What the hell are you doing out of your cage?"

"**You think this dimension worked only for the meager seal the white bitch put on you? Can you be more naïve?**" It laughed again, this time releasing a minor roar as it approached Natsu and slithered its claws against the steaming hot chains that kept incinerating Natsu's body which slowly regenerated the damage caused.

"Don't tell me…" Natsu twitched from both the pain and the thought of…

"**You got that right. These chains that you are in used to be my prison, but now it has been broken. I am free!**" It stated with sickening joy as it gripped Natsu's face with its hand, the claws almost ripping through the top of the pinkette's head.

"Over my dead body! You will never be free!" Natsu shouted as white flames engulfed the Dragon Slayer's body, effectively cracking the chains and destroying his darker self's limb in a vile explosion.

The figure groaned in pain as it felt its hand being destroyed by the enormous willpower Natsu was displaying, the light crept up its entire shadow covered body, slowly destroying it.

"**Tch. Even though you rejected me this time, I will return. Mark my words, I WILL.**" It laughed madly again as his body disintegrated towards its shoulders, "**The seal has been broken. The moment your resolve flinches the world around you will crumble.**" It gave one last grin before disappearing in a white explosion that shattered the rest of the chains around Natsu.

"**You better not die before it happens.**" Natsu heard a voice inside his head before he felt an enormous surge in his power, effectively knocking him out of the unconscious state he was in. He woke up in the same dimension he was in during his fight, covered by the falling debris of both the bridges and the barrier itself. Natsu slowly and shakily got himself up and started hopping from one bridge to the other upwards towards the same breach Gerard used to flee, often using the falling debris as stepping stones. Natsu still felt unimaginable pain through his whole body. Even though the surprising surge in power gave Natsu new strength and healed most of his wounds, the internal damage was still there, being slowly healed.

Natsu knew exactly what the voice inside his head was, and it sent shivers down his spine. This was one of the few times that Natsu Dragneel, The Salamander, was actually scared, and scared of none other than himself. But he had to brush those thoughts away as the priority was to get out of this dimension alive. There would be time to deal with this sudden situation could already see the breach above him. It was a near ten feet away and Natsu gave a sigh of relief as he was inches from the hole but then suddenly a large explosion echoed through the whole chasm as a magical trap set by Gerard exploded right in front of the Dragon Slayer, widening the breach and sending Natsu backwards towards the abyss below.

'_Shit!_' Natsu exclaimed inwardly as he winced from the pain, the damage caused by the explosion erupting right in his face crippled most of his muscles and he helplessly fell down the bottomless chasm. He tried moving, but to no avail, all his body would allow him to do was helplessly stutter mid-air. Then a thought shot in his head as he gathered the newly received magical power into a ball of fire near his mouth, ready to shoot himself backwards with what magic he had left, hoping that the blast would be strong enough to propel him through the breach. Natsu gasped in shock as he noticed that the flames he collected weren't his normal red flames, but black flames framed with dark-red lines on its sides. Natsu frowned, he hated himself for having to use **his **flames, but he didn't have a choice. He mustered up as much energy as he could and readied himself for the release, but as soon as he was about to cast his spell the magical seal that Gerard had altered kicked in, the chains squeezing down both on his body and his internal organs, making Natsu cough up blood and the now uncontrollable raw evil magical power to explode in his face, sending him flying through some debris and resuming his helpless tumble towards the abyss below him.

As Natsu fell down the abyss, he slowly started losing all hope. He relaxed his muscles, readying himself for the now unavoidable conclusion that he had been fighting against his whole life. It made him mad. He growled as he bit his lower lip to the point that it started bleeding. He closed his eyes and drifted to the abyss below, when…

"Natsu!" He heard a voice call him. Natsu's eyes shot open as he noticed a flash of blue flames and felt a hand grasping his arm. It was Rin. He was flying due to the flames he used to propel himself from his feet. Natsu couldn't help but smile. He had come to save him. The person who he could easily call his best friend, a brother, had come to save him. Well, what else could he expect? Rin was that kind of idiot to rush into unimaginable situations to save those close to him after all. It was no different with Natsu.

The happiness was short lived. The barrier had finally reached its limit of maintaining itself as everything around them started exploding in a tornado of magical energy. "The barrier can't take much more! Faster, Rin!" Natsu heard Ayame shout as he tilted his head and saw her standing on the edge of the breach.

"Shit!" Rin exclaimed as he was almost sent flying by an incoming shockwave caused by an explosion that erupted inches from them. Natsu tilted his head downwards and through his blurry vision managed to notice the blazing inferno that was below them, the hellish flames towering upwards, chasing them.

"Rin!" Natsu shouted.

"Yeah! I know! Hang on!" He shouted back as he initiated his demon form, increasing the effectiveness of his flames causing them to increase their speed. Now that Rin's power had increased, the shockwaves had no effect on them and they instantly sped through the chaos and through the breach, "Ayame, do it!" Rin exclaimed as he recovered from rolling through the floor because he couldn't control his speed and landed too fast.

"On it!" She shouted as she placed two hands on the breach, the flames visibly heading towards them, "**Shīru: Kyōsei Heisa! (Seal: Forced Closure)**" She stated and white lightning started flickering around her arms and created a magical barrier around the hole before her, instantly closing it up as the flames were about to reach them. The shockwave from the flames hitting the barrier could still be felt by the three, proving how close to oblivion they actually were. Ayame was pushed back from the shockwave and landed on the ground, "Oww! My butt!" She groaned.

"Pfft… Hahahaha!" Rin bursted out laughing, much to both Natsu's and Ayame's surprise, "That was one freaky situation." He smiled after noticing the confusing glances he was receiving from his friends.

"You got that right." Ayame sighed, flashing them both a smile before noticing Natsu who fell to the ground on his back, "Natsu!" She exclaimed and Rin turned around to notice his friend. He finally saw the state his body was in. It was bad, to say the least. His whole body covered in cuts, burns, bruises. Most of the injuries Rin's head could come up on the spot were covering his body. His eyes widened in shock as he noticed the black spiky chains covering his pink-haired friend's body, slowly retracting and opening new wounds as the spikes brushed through his skin, making the Dragon Slayer grit his teeth, trying to hold back the groans which were trying to escape his mouth.

"Oi! Natsu! Stay with us!" He shouted as he slapped Natsu's cheeks when he noticed that the pinkette slowly started losing consciousness.

"Rin…" Natsu muttered, "**He's **back." And he noticed how Rin's expression changed before he lost consciousness.

Rin was lost in thought. '_**He's**__ back? He can't mean… Oh shit._' He exclaimed inwardly, but was thrown out of his thoughts when Ayame darted past him towards Natsu, and muttered something while placing her hands on his chest. A green glow engulfed her palms as Natsu's wounds started slowly closing up. It was noticeable that the girl had trouble controlling healing magic as seconds into the spell and she already started to pant and shiver slightly.  
"Rin," she turned her gaze towards him, earning a worried glance from the black-haired teen, "Natsu is in bad condition, you'll have to imbue your flames in him if we want him to survive." She said shakily.

"Right." Rin replied as he placed his palm on Natsu's bloody forehead and engulfed the palm in blue flames which the Dragon Slayer's body instinctively absorbed. From Rin's flames, Natsu's appearance slightly changed, his ears grew pointier and his canine teeth were now visibly showing from his mouth. '_My flames change him, huh… Must be that bastard's influence._' Rin frowned. This was the first time he had used his flames on Natsu to heal him and he had to wonder what would happen if his friend was to devour Rin's flame. The thought of him adding Satan's power to the strength he already possessed sent a slight shiver down his spine.

Ayame watched as Rin gave the unconscious Natsu his flames which the Dragon Slayer's body consumed and his appearance changed. It surprised the girl. Sure, she had seen Rin change when he enters his demon state countless times. She had seen how he gives his power to others for healing purposes too, but never had someone changed like Natsu did. She felt conflicted, but her worries steadily vanished when she saw how Natsu's wounds started closing up. She stared at his body in shock as the gashes healed as if time itself had been turned back. Little did she know that the rate at which he was healing wasn't only of Rin's influence.

Rin bounced back to a seated position after most of Natsu's wounds closed up and his heavy breathing stabilized. Transmitting his flames to others placed a huge strain on his body, more so at the fact that he had used the ability two times in one day. He was breathing heavily while grasping his shaking right hand with his left one.

"Hey… Are you okay?" Ayame asked with a worried expression on her face.

"I'm fine. More importantly, before he lost consciousness… Natsu… He…" Rin couldn't find the right words.

"What? What is it?"

"He told me something." Was Rin's reply as his expression was slowly occupied by an angered frown.

"What?" She exclaimed, annoyed at the teen's stalling.

"I think the seal's been broken. He said that **he's**back." Rin growled.

Ayame's eyes shot open as she gasped in surprise.

"**He**? You mean…" The silver-haired girl said shakily.

"Yeah, the **Death Dragon**."

* * *

**Sorry for yet another cliffhanger, I just had to :P  
**  
**Cheers.**


	7. The Trigger

Waking up wasn't pleasant for Natsu, not in the least. His whole body was aching, not to mention the metallic taste in his mouth caused by his organs bleeding some time ago.

Something struck the pinkette as his eyes opened wide. How much time has he been out? Even though he would mostly recover pretty fast from almost any injury, this time was different. This time he could feel **his **power running through him and even though the power itself healed most of his wounds it would slowly damage his mental state. Natsu knew this, and it didn't bode well for him.

His eyes roamed around the place he was laying in: his own bed in Magnolia, the room he recognized to be his own. Much to his surprise neither Rin nor Ayame were present, that in itself told him that he must've been sleeping for quite some time. He slowly leaned up, one hand against the bed, supporting his body weight, the other on his side. He could feel the stinging pain in his sides which meant broken ribs. The fact aggravated him, but he knew that it was nothing. The bones would heal, what worried him was the situation with his magic.

He slowly slid to the side of his bed, placing his feet on the ground he stood up. Feeling his head almost go numb from the dizziness, he grasped the side of the bed to keep him from tumbling to the ground.

Natsu groaned, even his muscles were hurting him. He hasn't used **his **power since the seal which kept the creature in check was placed on his body and now the sensation of the overflowing energy inside of him was messing with his own magical resources. A mage with his magical power out of control wasn't a nice sight as his body would constantly fluctuate with magical energy and disturb his body's movement. Natsu would again have to get used to the other source of magical power inside of him. The thought annoyed him greatly.

Natsu slowly put two fingers against his forehead, '_Ayame?_' he tried contacting her, figuring she had placed the _**Kangae Tsūshin (Thought Communication)** _spell on him. And soon enough a flash of magic and his white-haired companion appeared before him.

Before he could say anything, both Natsu's arms and legs gave in and he fell forward, closing his eyes while bracing for the painful impact of him hitting the cold floor, but before that happened Ayame grabbed hold of her friend in a tight embrace.

"Natsu!" She exclaimed while tugging on him tighter, both of them falling to their knees.

"Oi…I'm… suffocating…!" Natsu barely muttered through heavy breaths as Ayame clutched on his sides, moving the already broken ribs.

"S-sorry!" She smiled sheepishly after letting go of him and facing him, staring at him directly with her bright red eyes, "Are you okay?"

"More or less." He sighed, "How long was I out?"

"A week." She replied with a frown.

"A whole week?" Natsu exclaimed, "Damn it all to hell!" He gritted his teeth, "Where's Rin?"

"He's keeping an eye on Gerard." She said, "The bastard's back at Fairy High as if nothing happened." Ayame added when she noticed the curious glance Natsu shot her way.

"How were you two during the mission?" Natsu asked.

"We're good, more importantly-" The white-haired girl's expression changed to a worried frown, "What happened, Natsu?"

"What do you mean?"

"Rin told me. **He's **back, isn't he?"

Natsu could only frown at the question. He didn't know what to tell her. He stepped into that trap so easily, a trap that would not only hinder their mission, but might bring danger to them all. After thinking for a bit, Natsu, with the help of his friend, slowly stood up, "I've got in under control." He stated while slowly wobbling towards the door. Ayame held him by his side, making sure he didn't fall again.

"But how can you be sure?" She persisted, the worried expression still planted on her features as they went through the doorway towards the kitchen.

"I just am." Natsu replied with confidence in his voice. Even though he was putting up a front, he wasn't the least bit convinced by his own words. He was scared, but he didn't want to show it, he didn't want to worry them. Much to his dismay, Ayame had noticed the slight shiver in his voice.

"Natsu, don't lie to me."

"I'm not, Aya, please, drop it." He asked as he got free of her hold, mustering enough strength to walk on his own.

"Don't tell me to drop it! I'm worried about you! Remember what happened last time?" She warned him, slightly raising her voice.

"Damn it Ayame!" He shouted at her as he slammed his fist against the table, slightly scaring the girl, "How the hell can I forget?" He kept the same volume of his voice as flames surrounded his whole body in spiraling waves spinning around his legs, going through his body towards his arms. Natsu felt surprisingly good, the old power that awoke inside of him increased his own strength dramatically, but he couldn't help but feel troubled by it. The last time **he**took over almost resulted in the destruction of one of the biggest cities in Otona, a country the size of Fiore.

Natsu had to quickly extinguish his flames as he felt a sudden sting in his back, meaning that they hadn't removed the seal that kept him from using his magical power. He fell to his knees, panting from the strain the black chains caused him, though he knew that it wasn't only the chains that were at fault. The other entity's power that was inside of him was no joke to use, even if only for show. Natsu looked up questionably at Ayame who stood there and watched her friend struggle. She walked behind him and placed her palm on his bare back, activating a healing spell that quickly closed the newly appeared wounds.

"We couldn't remove it." She whispered in a sad tone.

"What? Why?" Natsu looked back at her with despair planted in his eyes.

"The seal… It has been altered in another dimension and we have no idea what roots could've sprouted from the effects of it." She said.

"_**Shinikami no Haaku**__** (Death God's Grasp)**_" Natsu replied, "That was the alteration spell."

"Yes, I know, I've examined it more than a hundred times, but the alterations made by the dimension itself are impossible to know." She explained.

"So you mean to tell me I'm stuck with this thing?"

All he got for a reply was a slow nod of her head. The fact that she couldn't help her friend killed Ayame inside, and Natsu knew it. He turned around and placed one of his hands on her shoulder, "Don't worry about it. We'll deal with this somehow, and until then I promise not to use magic." He said, earning a faint smile of relief from the white-haired teen, "Now… I need a drink."

* * *

Rin was standing on the roof of Fairy High. To him, keeping an eye on someone meant being not far from his target and, using his demonic senses, trace magical power fluctuations within them. He could discern when someone kept their magical power in check or readied it for battle. That helped him in many infiltration and hunting missions. Gerard's magical power was stable, even though it was suppressed. He gritted his teeth, after what the bastard had done to Natsu he wanted to bust right in there and chop his head off, but he couldn't. Not only could it practically destroy any chance of them completing their mission, Rin might just get killed himself, this school housed many strong mages, after all.

The black-haired teen's thoughts flew through what had happened a week ago. He made sure to, after getting Natsu to safety, go back to the facility and take care of the enemy he fought – Ikaruga, though much to his surprise the swordswoman was already gone when he arrived. If she went back the blue-haired asshole Rin wouldn't heal her the next time they fought, that he made sure to note in his head.

For a second, his thoughts strayed to what Natsu had said.

'_Rin… __**He's **__back._'

Bloodshot red eyes, a grin with extremely sharp teeth and a body covered in jet-black scales shot through his memory.

Rin scowled. He didn't like the words Natsu had said. The seal breaking meant that the thing hiding inside his pink-haired friend was free to resurface. The memories of the last time Natsu lost control started to gnaw at him.

'_**You inferior humans!**_'

He remembered the terrifying tremor of the roar the creature emanated before engulfing everything around them in black flames. The thought snapped him out of his day-dreaming state. He could feel a slight drop of sweat roll down his neck.

Never again.

Never again would he let Natsu lose control like that, and if by some reason he did, Rin would use all of his power to break Natsu's body if necessary, because he knew that Natsu would rather die than hurt his comrades.

'_Rin._' He heard a voice in his head.

'_Ayame?_' He replied after placing two fingers on his forehead.

'_Natsu's awake._' She stated.

Rin exhaled a sigh of relief, though something still troubled him, '_How is he?_'

'_He says he's fine, though he's unable to control his flames properly yet, courtesy of you know what._'

Another sigh, this one of anxiousness, '_So what do we do now?_'

'_Nothing. He said he'd find a way to deal with it himself. For now we should just wait._'

'_Alright. What about the mission?_'

'_He's going back in tomorrow. Head back home, Natsu's orders._'

'_Got it._' He replied and cut the transmission off, hopping on the railing of the roof and jumping towards the sky while enveloping himself in blue flames which soon grew transparent, creating a camouflage.

* * *

The next morning was kinder to Natsu than the last one. Almost all of his injuries had already healed, internal ones included.

Natsu made his way through the school's halls and entered his classroom. Ignoring the questionable glances shot his way by his classmates, Natsu quickly went to his desk and sat down, resting his head on his hand while looking through the window at the bright blue sky.

"Where were you the past week, pinky?" A familiar voice questioned him and he felt someone poke him on the shoulder. Even though Natsu's wounds were healed, his body was still hyper sensitive due to the changes still happening within him and he felt a sting as if someone poked a dagger through his shoulder. He tried his best not to groan while he tilted his head to see the cause of his annoyance, Gray.

"Personal." He growled, "Piss off, popsicle."

"Natsu!" He heard another voice. This time he had to come up with a decent explanation for his absence or a world of pain would surely take him away to the land of the dead, "Answer his question." A redhead named Erza ordered.

Natsu sighed, "I got into an accident, alright?" He said while slightly lifting up his shirt showing them the bandages on his sides, "Nothing serious."

"Are you sure?" She raised an eyebrow, Natsu nodded. Believing him, she went back to her seat before sending Gray a glare telling him to do the same to which the raven-haired teen almost instantly complied. Natsu couldn't help but sigh again. How much can one guy sigh per day?

"Okay." An older man said while he entered the class, "Is everyone here?" Gildarts said.

"Everyone's here." Erza replied, "Even Natsu." She added.

"Natsu, huh?" He turned to him, "Where were you?"

"Needed some time off, got into an accident." Natsu stated.

"Are you fine now?" The orange-haired man questioned with a worried expression, to which Natsu nodded, "Good, finally there'll be someone who can answer the questions in class besides Erza."

Sigh.

"Anyway," the teacher continued, "the principal told me we will be going to Wintermane for the weekend. I hope to see all of you present." He said, to which half the class cried out in desperation, except Gray, unsurprisingly. Why? Because Wintermane, obvious to its name, was a town up the far north of Fiore.

A journey planned in only a week? That was fast, it felt as if Natsu missed over a month of school. He tilted his head to the side and saw Erza with a smile planted on her face and a small blush that followed soon after. He wondered why…

"Everything's being organized by the newspaper club, so if you guys trash the place it won't be only me you'll have to answer to, but Gerard as well." Gildarts smirked.

Natsu's eyes widened at the name. He gritted his teeth and balled his palms into fists. He was getting angrier than he should be as the wooden surface of the table started to slowly ignite on fire. Natsu was losing it, rage subconsciously ignited his magical power which he could barely control now and his body was heating up.

'**That's right, get angry.**' Natsu heard a growl in his head, but the anger clouded his mind and he didn't care about it, everything was getting blurry, but before he could go out of control he felt a sting in his back. Silently groaning in pain, he quickly regained his senses and hid his magical power as fast as he could while covering the spots of the table which were starting to burn with his palms.

After the anger subsided, he looked around the classroom to see if anyone noticed his small outburst. No, they didn't. Natsu was glad that the seal kicked in when it did, at least it was good for something. Though the fact that anger ignites his flames and that, due to the influence of his other self, rage seemed like something that would come to him from the most trivial of matters, like hearing a name he didn't like, made him worry. What would happen to him if something worse occurred? Like one of his friends getting hurt before his very eyes? The thought alone managed to send a shiver down his spine.

Natsu sighed, "This is going to be one hell of a weekend." He whispered to himself.

Meanwhile, someone wasn't as oblivious to what was happening to Natsu as he initially thought. One certain redhead managed to notice the abnormal magical power emanating from the person said to have no magic whatsoever. She got suspicious.


	8. Ignition

**Yaaay! Look at the badass cover I had my friend make for me! Hell Yeah!  
****Haha, Enjoy.**

* * *

Natsu gritted his teeth at the sight before him. A train. Oh how he dreamt about smashing the thing into pieces with the strongest spell he possessed. Hell, with that he'd probably destroy every single train in existence, and a few other vehicles.

He tugged on the belt of his backpack and tightened it around his waist as he made his way towards the howling machine in front of him. He met up with Lucy and Gray and the trio went inside. Gray and Natsu seemed to argue over something and Lucy had to calm them down so they don't accidentally break a window or two. It had happened back in school with Gray almost using his magic on Natsu. Yeah, their friendship was that bad.

Going through the train they struggled to find a compartment to enter as every single one they saw was already occupied. Finally, after traveling to the back of the train, they found one last empty compartment. They sat down, Gray and Lucy next to each other while Natsu sat in front of them. He placed his hand on the mini-table near the window and leaned his head on it. He tried readying himself for the pain his stomach was soon going to feel, but nothing could ready a dragon-slayer for that kind of punishment.

He didn't like it. Neither did his stomach.

As the train howled once more, signaling that it was about to depart, Natsu's stomach growled. It reacted almost instantly, even before the huge machine moved. The pinkette had to cover his mouth to not puke on the two sitting in front of him; a cold sweat covered his body as he leaned towards his knees while grasping his stomach with one of his hands. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Natsu? Are you okay?" Lucy asked as she noticed how her friend was struggling.

"Yeah, It's… nothing." He muttered.

"Oi, just don't puke on us." Gray mocked him.

"I won't puke on Lucy," he said with a glance shot towards the raven-haired teen, "Not so sure about you, though."

Lucy scowled. She figured Natsu had motion sickness, and the thought that the train ride is going to take over five hours didn't say anything good about the situation they were in. She quickly checked her purse and in a few moments took out a paper bag, "Here." She said, "If it gets really bad, use this." She gave him the bag with a smile on her face.

"T-Thanks…" Natsu muttered, instantly placing the near his mouth and puking in it, "Gah…" He groaned, "Here goes my breakfast." He said, earning a mocking laugh from Gray which Natsu didn't fail to notice and threw the same puke-filled bag at the poor guy's face.

"Shit! What the hell!" He screamed. Lucy could only sigh at their antics as Gray and the momentarily recovered Natsu butted heads, but as the train accelerated Natsu fell to the ground while grasping his stomach.

"Lucy… Another bag, please…" He groaned.

'_This is going to be one long train ride…_'

Though one single surprise was still waiting for them.

The train compartment's door suddenly slid open.

"Can I join you three?" A certain redhead said.

"Erza?" Lucy looked surprised, "Sure. But weren't you with Gerard?" She asked her as Erza entered and closed the compartments door behind her and then sat next to Natsu who by this point was barely breathing.

"He's busy with the newspaper club activities." She replied and then sniffed the air, "Why does it smell like puke in here?" She inquired.

"It was in a bag, but…" Lucy said while pointing a finger at Natsu, "Motion sickness, apparently. And a bad case of it." She sweat dropped.

Erza eyed the struggling Natsu carefully, though he didn't even seem to notice her. "Natsu?" She asked. No reply.

"Natsu…?"

No reply.

"Natsu."

A groan.

"Natsu!"

A tick.

Erza grabbed Natsu by his collar and pulled him towards her, slapping the Dragon-slayer around.

"E-Erza…?" Natsu muttered, "What the hell do you want?" And with that said he burped directly on her face. The tick grew unimaginably bigger.

Both Lucy's and Gray's expressions seemed to change to terrified ones, both started sweating and shivering at the thought of what was going to happen to their poor friend next, but all the oblivious guy got was a punch to his stomach which sent him tumbling town to the seat and on Erza's lap.

"Here, rest." She said, surprising everyone in the compartment, Natsu included.

'_Shit!_' Natsu grumbled as he felt his stomach growl again, unhappy by the fact that not only was it in a moving vehicle, but was being punished by outside sources as well. He could feel his saliva gather and he prayed for his life after the thought of what Erza would do to him if he puked on her, but surprisingly the urge to blast his insides on her faded, '_The hell…?_´ He questioned the situation inwardly.

Lying on Erza's lap felt surprisingly… comfortable, for Natsu, even the motion sickness got slightly better. Well, to the point where he didn't want to puke anymore, at least. He tilted his head upwards to look at Erza, "Thanks." He said with a forced smile.

"Just sleep." Erza hissed as she delivered a chop straight on Natsu's forehead, effectively knocking him out, X's appearing instead of his eyes as his soul flew out of his mouth.

"I hope he's alive…" Lucy sweat dropped.

* * *

About two hours into the trip, both Gray and Natsu were sleeping while Erza glanced through the window with a bored gaze. Lucy, on the other hand, examined both her and Natsu. She wanted to interrogate her on a certain matter, but couldn't muster up the courage to do so. Hey, it was Erza. But something flashed in her memory:

"_Is it Erza?_"

"_Yeah…_"

And the resolve to ask showed itself instantaneously. She always did like hearing about other people's relationships.

"So… Erza? Can I ask you something?" She said.

"Hmm?" She didn't spare the blonde a single glance as her eyes were occupied by the snowy terrain showered in moonlight.

"What do you think of Natsu?"

"What do you mean?" The redhead inquired, her eyes darted towards Lucy, then Natsu, then again Lucy.

"Exactly that." Lucy said.

Erza looked confused for a second, but then collected her thoughts and replied, "A friend." She said, "I don't know how to put it any other way."

"Nothing more?" Lucy asked, she wasn't content with that easy of an answer.

Again, Erza was lost in thought, "If I wasn't with Gerard, I MIGHT" She emphasized the word, "try to see him in another light, but it is what it is. Why?"

"Just curious." Lucy hummed.

"Now, my turn." Erza smirked, "What about you? Don't you like Natsu?"

"Are you kidding me?" She sweat dropped.

"Why would you say that?"

"Well, sure, he's cute and all," Erza nodded to the statement, "but Natsu is still… Natsu!" another nod, "I haven't known him for that long and he seems too mysterious for my taste." She said.

Erza could relate. The fact that she could feel magical power from him the other day made her a bit wary of the pinkette. She tried looking into his student file and find something out about his past, but the principal strictly forbade it. Why? He didn't say which made Erza even more suspicious. She wouldn't, however, give up. Erza wouldn't be called 'Titania' if she gave up that easily, would she?

But she wouldn't reveal what she thought she felt. It was Natsu's business whether or not he wanted to hide his magic and while it didn't cause trouble for the school she didn't care about it. Though she still needed to know what magic he used, in case of him becoming a threat.

"Though," Lucy continued, "he's friendly, reliable, he'll be there when you need him and will always find a way to get you out of the situation you're in." she said, slightly surprising the redhead, "He helped me countless times, even if it's only with schoolwork."

"You trust him that much, huh?" She smiled looking down at the sleeping figure of Natsu.

"Is that weird?"

"Not at all." Erza chuckled.

* * *

Four hours in, Natsu was still asleep. Gildarts entered the compartment, "I see you kids are comfortable." He said while pointing at Natsu and a sleeping Erza.

"Apparently that helps with the idiot's motion sickness." Gray stated.

"Of all people, Gray, you're definitely not one to call him an idiot, if we compared your grades that is." The older man laughed, "Anyway, we'll in Wintermane in about an hour so I suggest you get ready." Gildarts said before he closed the door to their compartment.

As Gildarts left, there was a thump and the train shook, knocking Natsu off of his sleeping position to the ground. "Ugh… What the hell?" He groaned as his eyes slowly shot opened. He felt uneasy, for some reason, and he didn't like it. He sniffed the air and something hit him. He wasn't sick, even though the train was still moving.

"You alright?" Lucy asked.

"Fine." Natsu said as he stood up, "I'll be right back." He said and left the compartment, leaving behind a confused blonde.

Natsu darted through the train to the passage from one cart to another. He checked through the windows and could only see blackness. They were in a tunnel, or so he thought. As he was in the passage, he climbed up the ladder leading to the roof of the train and opened the hatch. What he saw while he stood up on the surface shocked him. It was totally different from the total darkness that he saw through the windows. The surroundings were purple with black lines of pure magical energy surrounding the train. Natsu felt the magical power to be strangely familiar and upon recognizing who it belonged to he ran through the roof of the train until he reached the very front of it. Looking forward, he saw that the rails ended a few thousand feet ahead of him and if the train kept going forward it would fall into the abyss below them. The dimension itself was like a void. No wind, no matter, nothing. Natsu was glad that it at least had air, because it reminded him of open space too much.

The Dragon-Slayer gritted his teeth, '_You intend to involve innocents in this, Gerard?_' Natsu thought for a second, no way was he going to let that happen, even if it meant sacrificing his own life in the process. He gathered magical power in his whole body, slightly melting the roof leaving the imprint of his feet on it. He then focused the magical power in his arms and fire ignited on them from his shoulders through his elbows and to his palms. He didn't know how to deal with this kind of dimension, but with enough magical force applied he could shatter it. He instantly felt the seal on his back kick in as his body spiked in pain. Ignoring it, he continued to gather magical power, slightly wincing from the seal's effects.

Natsu wasn't content with the magical power he had gathered, he thought it wasn't enough, but the pain in his back was becoming unbearable and he had to do what he could. Growling in slight anger, his magical power spiked higher and his flames darkened as he shouted, "_**Karyū no Kenrōna Honō (Fire Dragon's Robust Blaze)**_" And clapped both of his hands together, causing the flames on his hands to violently explode and expand in a massive shockwave.

* * *

Erza felt something missing. She woke up; opening her eyes she noticed the absence of one certain pinkette who was supposed to be sleeping. She looked through the window but all she saw was darkness.

Erza shot a glance towards Lucy whose expression was still stumped from Natsu leaving like he did, "Where's Natsu?" She asked.

"No idea." She shook her head, "He left a minute ago, didn't say where though." Lucy added and a slight feeling of unease hit the redhead. Where had he gone? The situation was suspicious.

"I'm going to look for him." She said as she stood up and left, making her blonde friend even more confused.

'_I hope he's okay._' She thought as she entered the passage through the train cars and noticed that the hatch towards the roof was open. She climbed the ladder and felt immense heat and light emanating from the front of the train. She noticed that the train was surrounded by dark magic that was burning to reveal the tunnel they were in previously. She climbed up and stood on the car's roof, trying to make out the cause of the bright flame. Much to her shock she saw the same pink-haired boy she was with previously engulfed in massive dark-red flames, slightly panting.

Natsu groaned. The reaction from his seal kicked in almost instantly as the spell was cast. He felt wobbly, his vision got blurry as he placed one foot forward to keep himself up straight. The train suddenly shook again as the burning barrier caused a small explosion which sent a shockwave, knocking Natsu off his feet and off the train car. He fell to the side and even if he lost his life, at that moment, he had no regrets. He had done the right thing, even his father would agree, and with that thought, the seal's energy increased, making Natsu lose consciousness.

"Natsu!" Erza screamed as she saw him being knocked to the side by the shockwave of the explosion. Without a second thought, she lunged forward, running at speeds that most mages couldn't reach. As she was a few feet away, she jumped.

In mid-fall she managed to use the incoming wind to propel her to the pink-haired teen. She reached his arm and pulled him closer, embracing him to cover him from the damage of the fall. She closed her eyes and readied herself for impact, when she heard a voice in her head.

"**Tch, not again.**" And black flames sprouted from Natsu's body, slightly burning Erza but cushioning their fall as well.

Even though the flames were enough to save their lives, Erza still felt the brunt of the fall as she hit the ground with her back, knocking her out instantly as the train howled and kept going straight towards its destination.

* * *

"**You're pathetic.**"

"Shut up!" Natsu shouted. Again, he was in the farthest reaches of his subconscious. In front of him stood the same dark figure from before, only this time it was kneeling and was restrained by glowing white chains.

"**Make me!**" It growled, lunging forward but being stopped by the glowing chains. Aggravated, it roared, sending a shockwave of air that almost sent Natsu off his feet. "**It's the second time that you almost kill us both!**" It said while struggling to break free of its restraints.

Natsu didn't know what to reply. The creature was right, it was the second time now that it had to help him, and he didn't like it.

"I never asked for your help." Natsu stated as he walked forward to the curious creature, "So don't help me." He said as he crashed his foot on the creature's face, "I'd rather die than let you loose again." Natsu said.

The beast seemingly unaffected by Natsu's strength roared again, knocking the pinkette back a few feet, "**Remember, Dragon-Slayer, I am a part of you. And whether I like it or not, if you die – I die. So that can't happen.**" It said, "**But know this…**" It paused as a huge, maddening red grin appeared on its shadowy face, "**If you find yourself on the verge of dying again, I will fight. And if that happens, pray that your friends aren't around.**" It laughed menacingly.

"Friends? Erza…" Natsu scowled and something hit him.

"_Natsu!_" Erza's voice ringed in his head.

"**Too bad, I was hoping to kill her myself.**" Natsu heard its laughter in his head as he forced himself awake. His eyes shot open and he noticed that he was near the exit of the same tunnel they were going through before. He glanced to his side and saw the exit of the tunnel; the scenery was white, snow everywhere. Even for a Dragon-Slayer, at night the north was cold. He scanned the tunnel, and finally found his target.

"Erza!" He shouted as he quickly stood up and ran towards her. What he saw shocked him. She had burns all over her body, but they weren't the main concern as the burns themselves were minor. What bugged him was the position her body was bent in. He carefully made sure that none of her bones were broken and placed on her back, to which the redhead subconsciously groaned. Quickly, he lifted her up and checked her back.

'_Shit…_' Natsu frowned as he saw the bloody wound on her back caused by landing on the rails. Did she protect him? How did she know that he was in trouble anyway? Natsu didn't know and he didn't linger on the thought too much as his priority was to keep her alive. He placed his palm on her bleeding back and ignited his hand, painfully closing her wound as the redhead screamed in pain.

"Natsu…?" She muttered.

"I'm here. Are you alright?" He asked, a worried expression planted on his face.

She placed her palm on his cheek, a smile on her face, "You're safe. I'm glad." She said and closed her eyes, losing consciousness again.

"Damn it!" Natsu shouted in aggravation. He gently picked her up and placed her on his back piggy-back and started striding through the tunnel into the open winter. The cold breeze hit him and he felt Erza's body shake. Natsu instinctively heated his body to an extent that would keep both of them warm and not burn Erza in the process. While Erza was still asleep, she managed to wrap her hands around Natsu's neck.

"Gerard…" She whispered.

'…_You're going to pay!'_Was what was going through Natsu's head while he started to run through the snow following the tracks the train took. He could barely control his anger, but he had to. An outburst of anger would mean his flames going out of control, and that was out of the question as he was carrying Erza, though the need to burn down the trees around them was steadily growing unbearable.

Using his magical power, he boosted every single step he made with fire from his feet, speeding him up to practically the same speed the train had. Natsu was relieved, he could boost his speed and keep his body's head up without the seal acting up. That was a start.

He ran as fast as he could, trekking through the snow, rails, rocks, water and other annoying terrain. He couldn't afford to slow down as he noticed how the moon's position had shifted. He could discern that over two hours had passed since that accident. He figured the school had a search party out looking for them so he shifted to the right through the woods. He didn't want someone to spot him using magic.

Then Natsu realized.

Erza saw his magic, he was sure of that.

Different outcomes of this situation flew through his head. Outcomes where he would be imprisoned tortured or killed. Ultimately, he would fail his mission. That didn't stand well with him, but he didn't have a choice. He'd have to deal with this one way or another, but later. Now, Erza's life was in his hands. That was an enough drive for him to abandon his mission for that split moment.

Suddenly, Natsu heard something. He tilted his head behind him and saw three magical missiles heading straight for him. He cursed and jumped up as one missile was almost on him. It hit the ground and exploded as Natsu landed on one of the huge tree branches and continued. The missiles pursued, flying in zigzags around the trees.

Natsu growled as the annoying orbs of magical energy followed him, slowly catching up. He changed to the old classic tactic as one of the missiles was a few feet away from him and ran straight for a tree, jumping to the side in the last second and the missile hit the tree trunk, causing an explosion and launching Natsu off balance. The third missile headed towards him and there was no way for him to dodge it. He raised one of his feet ant blasted flames from it to switch him to the side so that the missile hit his chest and not his back where Erza was.

It impacted and launched Natsu through the trees into an open field. Erza was knocked off of his back and both of them tumbled on the snow.

Natsu quickly got up and checked to see if Erza was safe. She was, somewhat. Besides the wounds caused from the incident with the train, no new ones opened from their mysterious assailant. She was sleeping peacefully and Natsu could only sigh in relief.

"You're fast, Salamander."

"Show yourself, Gerard!" Natsu shouted. He knew from the start whose magic this was from the scent alone. He had to suppress his magical power while carrying Erza, but now that she's out of the way he could go on a rampage. And that was what he was intending to do, seal or no seal.

"Why aren't you dead?" Natsu heard a whisper behind him and turned around to see a grinning blue-haired man. Natsu didn't reply; he shot the man a deadly glare as a flaming vortex engulfed his whole body, melting the snow around them in an over twenty meter radius. Gerard snickered, "No matter. You will be soon enough."

And without further warning, Natsu charged, flames on his feet propelling him forward with incredible speed while his whole body was on fire. Gerard raised his hand and shot multiple magical beams from his palms. The beams were extremely fast and would be impossible to dodge if not for the enhanced reflexes the Dragon-Slayer possessed. He easily sidestepped all of the beams and pushed himself forward, jumping from the snow while being propelled by a small explosion Natsu caused below his feet.

"_**Karyū no Tekken (Fire Dragon's Iron Fist)**_" He shouted as he slammed his fist down, causing an explosion with dirt and melting snow flying everywhere. As the smoke cleared, it revealed a large crater where Natsu's fist landed, but his enemy was nowhere to be seen.

"Too slow!" Gerard shouted from behind him and flew straight at the Dragon-Slayer following up with a roundhouse kick that was aimed straight for his head. Suddenly, Natsu caught that leg with his left hand and slammed Gerard on the ground in front of him.

Gerard gasped from the force of the pull and the impact. He quickly shot back on his feet though and darted backwards. He glanced at Natsu who had a grin on his face while glaring daggers at his target.

"Finally I can go all out." He stated and charged at the blue-haired man with the speed almost identical to his. Gerard couldn't even move out of the way as Natsu was in front of him in seconds and gave him a flaming punch straight to his nose which would've sent him flying, but Natsu had other plans. He grasped Gerard by his collar with his left hand and kept punching him with his right. After a good few punches, Natsu instantly gathered an enormous amount of magical energy in his mouth and without uttering one single word blasted Gerard backwards with a blast of fire.

Gerard went flying back, but didn't hit the ground as Natsu lunged again, this time under the flying body of Gerard he landed a kick to his back which launched the saint into the air. Gathering even more energy, he spat multiple blasts of fire towards the now flying mage.

Gerard barely managed to re-activate his _**Ryūsei (Meteor)** _spell and dodge half of the blasts sent his way, yet one managed to hit him square on the face, creating an explosion and launching him even further into the air.

Natsu watched with anger as the smoking body of Gerard landed on the snow, though with ease he jumped back up.

"It appears this is going to be even more fun than last time!" Gerard announced; a grin appearing on his face as his body created a small tremor from the magical power swirling around his body in golden lines.

"No, it won't." Natsu stated and created large balls of fire on both of his arms. Lifting one of his feet, he slammed it on the ground, creating a small crater and emitting a large amount of fire he disappeared from view. Gerard looked around, tried to sense Natsu's magical power. Nothing. It was as if he had vanished. Soon enough though he felt enormous heat emanating from behind him and turned around only to see an airborne Natsu with both of his flaming fists raised in the air. He quickly grasped one of his hands with the other, the flames connected into a large ball of fire that even incinerated the air around it, "_**Karyū no Kōen (Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame)**_" he shouted and slammed the ball of magical fire into the unwary mage, creating a huge explosion in its wake and destroying most of the ground around them. Sparks flew everywhere as the blast emitted a tremor, shaking the ground.

"You think it will be that easy?" Natsu heard a shout and the huge flaming ball expanded and exploded as two beams of light went straight towards him. He dodged the first one but the second one hit him on his left shoulder. Slightly wincing, Natsu quickly closed the bleeding wound on his shoulder with his flames and before noticing, Gerard was above him, both of his hands placed on one another, the top hand had its index and middle fingers spread out, "**Grand Chariot!**" He yelled and seven golden magical seals appeared before him. Every single seal shot a beam of energy at Natsu which he couldn't dodge as the gap between them was too little. He quickly raised his hands in defense and took the blow head on. It impacted, creating another explosion and an even bigger shockwave which sent Gerard upwards. Activating his _**Ryūsei **_spell he flew even higher and when he was a good distance between him and the still exploding seven seals, he placed both of his hands behind him, created balls of magic on his palms and shot multiple blasts at his target below him. His hands were moving fast, creating numerous beams of light. The process itself looked like a machine gun was firing bullets of light.

Every single attack hit its mark, creating even more explosions and rocking the ground around them.

"**Kill him.**"

Gerard's eyes widened as the smoke instantly blew away and a pillar of fire was sent his way, following a shout, "_**Karyū no Hōkō! (Fire Dragon's Roar)**_" and hit him directly. His active _**Tentai Mahō**_ _**(Heavenly Body Magic) **_managed to suck up most of the blast, but the force which hit him was still strong enough to hurt him and cancel out his magic, sending him tumbling to the ground.

The dust cleared and revealed Natsu, staggering his way back up from the already destroyed ground around him, covered in dark-red flames.

Gerard took note of the different flames surrounding the Dragon-Slayer as he slowly got up.

"You're more interesting than I initially thought." Gerard stated. Even though he took every single attack Natsu sent, he was mostly undamaged. The same could be said for Natsu, who took even more damage. The body of a Dragon-Slayer was nothing to joke about.

"You have no idea." Natsu growled and disappeared in a flash of red; appearing right in front of the saint, he aimed the fist at him, which the man returned in kind. Their fists collided, creating a large shockwave and blasting both red and golden magical lines around them. They punched again, and again and again, creating more massive shockwaves. Gerard changed his tactic and shifted the trajectory of his punch to hit him straight on his temple instead of meeting his own fists, but Natsu saw through that, ducked and with using his hands to balance his body, kicked Gerard on his jaw, sending him flying into the air.

Natsu wasn't done; he went into a crouching position, gathered flames below his feet and, using them to propel himself, jumped to meet the saint.

"Enough!" Gerard shouted and created a large golden seal in front of him by swiping his hand in the air, "It's time to end this!"

Natsu didn't stop, on the contrary, he knew what that spell was from sensing all the four elements gathering around the saint's body. Natsu gritted his teeth, was he intending to kill Erza with him?

Natsu accelerated with emanating flames from his feet. Natsu knew that absorbing magic that wasn't flames could potentially damage his body, but he had a hunch Gerard might pull something like this. He engulfed himself in golden flames which formed a sword edge at the top of his head, "_**Shiranui Gata**_ _**(Hidden Fire Form)**_" he shouted.

"_**Shin'en Kyūkei (Abyss Break)**_" Gerard stated and the magical seal started flickering in different colored lightning before creating a large ball of magical energy and blasting it forward with a dangerously large dark beam.

Natsu didn't hesitate, it was the opposite, he met the blast head first, "_**Guren: Hōō Ken (Crimson Lotus: Phoenix Blade)**_" Natsu shouted and headed straight for the beam, entering it and slashing it in half while not changing his target or his speed.

Gerard gathered another insanely large amount of magical energy into the same seal and repeated the process, though he didn't manage to quickly send it as Natsu collided with the flickering ball of magic.

The attacks collided, creating a massive explosion in the air, blowing the clouds around the away with a massive shockwave. The blast created immense light as the sound of exploding deafened the forest. The gigantic ball of magic caused by the spells expanded, creating explosions inside of it. In truth the cause of that was the fight happening between the two mages who didn't even stop their insane brawl even inside the swirling deadly magical vortex.

"Why won't you die?" Gerard shouted and punched Natsu on the face.

The pinkette, seemingly unaffected by the attack, returned it in kind with a flaming fist to Gerard's stomach, sending him flying out of the flaming inferno to the ground.

Natsu landed on the ground, golden flames swirling around him, lighting the night's darkness, "I won't die, "he stated, "until I find the man who killed my father." He grinned, "And killing a few assholes that would dare hurt their comrades along the way doesn't seem like a bad idea either." And Natsu charged. Flames engulfed his whole arm creating a pattern of an extremely sharp flaming blade.

Gerard couldn't dodge. His body was still numb from both the blast and the clash they had inside that flaming ball and hitting the ground from the punch courtesy of Natsu wasn't helping him either. He cursed. Was this it? Would he die this easily?

Natsu pushed his arm forward, but then a sword appeared in front of him and there was a loud clang as the fiery blade impacted with the metallic one, creating yet another shockwave and raising the ground around them.

He jumped back; gazing at the hindrance shocked him. What he saw was a panting redhead in what he recognized to be the _**Entei no Yoroi (Flame Empress Armor)**_.

"Erza? What are you doing!" Natsu shouted.

"I should be asking you the same thing, Natsu!" She shouted back, glaring daggers at the pink-haired Dragon-Slayer, "You hide your magic and attack one of our students in secrecy?" Her glare darkened as she raised her sword, ready for battle, "Unforgivable!" She stated and charged.

Saying that she fought Natsu only because Gerard was a student would be a lie. Natsu attacking him made it personal because he was her boyfriend. A normal fight she would forgive, but trying to take his life didn't sit well with the knight.

While charging, she was engulfed in a magical light which dissipated soon after, revealing that her armor had changed to a black one which had wings and gave her the ability to fly. It was the _**Kureha no Yoroi (Black Wing Armor)**_.

Her speed increasing from gaining the ability to fly, she went straight for Natsu and slashed his upper part, to which he barely dodged by ducking. Pointing her sword downwards towards him, she pushed it towards the ground. Again, Natsu dodged, but only barely. He tumbled on the ground and quickly stood up; this wasn't going to be easy.

"You misunderstood, Erza! I'm not the bad guy here!" He tried explaining while raising both of his hands in a defensive position.

Erza wasn't listening. She had seen enough when Natsu tried to slash clean through Gerard, "_**Kureha: Gessen (Moon Glimpse)**_" she stated and, as if teleporting, appeared behind Natsu with her back facing his, her hands were raised as if the blow was already delivered.

And it was. Four slashes appeared on all of Natsu's limbs, blood spattering to the sides as he groaned and fell to the ground on one knee.

Erza didn't wait for him to respond and followed up with the same attack aimed at his back. Natsu had had enough, his aggravation level shot up and he boosted himself from the ground with and sent a kick directly towards Erza's stomach with both of his feet, knocking her back.

He turned towards her, glaring at the knight as flames engulfed both of his hands, "I don't want to hurt you, but if you keep interfering…" he growled.

'_This is perfect!_' Gerard grinned madly. The thought of his enemy fighting his possible future enemy excited him. They would wear themselves out and be easy prey.

Even though Natsu was ready to fight, he was worried. He had used massive amounts of magical power with numerous attacks, yet he didn't feel the seal. It wasn't working. Why? He didn't know and he didn't care much. If the seal was delaying its effects it meant that Natsu could fight, even if for a moment. Natsu needed to finish this up quickly though, because the thought of it taking effect mid-battle scared him. Dying really wasn't an option now.

Erza stood up; a slight burn mark on her stomach was visible from the kick received before. Even though she didn't show it, the kick was extremely strong, so much so that it shook her entire body to the point of her almost fainting.

Another flash of light and Erza was in her _**Tenrin no Yoroi (Heaven's Wheel Armor) **_with two silver swords in both of her hands and over ten swords flying around her. With a wave of her hand the swords were sent at her target. Natsu instantly pushed the swords heading for him away by expanding his magical power enough to create a shockwave of pure magical energy and knocked those swords away.

Seeing this, she charged again, swinging her swords at Natsu which he blocked with his bare hands. A knee to her stomach again rocked her body as Natsu grabbed her hand and sent her flying behind him towards Gerard.

She tumbled in the air and using her armor's wings to stabilize her and she landed on her feet right in front of Gerard, "Don't worry." She said, "I'll protect you."

"Erza! No!" Natsu screamed, but before he could do anything the seal kicked in, making him cough up blood and fall to the ground. The pain caused was accumulated through all of the magical power had used. The pain was excruciating, so much so that Natsu actually thought that dying would feel less painful. '_Why now?_' And after the thought he heard a maddening laugh inside of his head.

Erza felt a hand on her shoulder, "Thank you for buying time, Erza." Gerard said, "Now, die!" he laughed as a golden magical spear pierced her through her stomach, making her gasp.

"G-Gerard…?" she groaned in pain, baffled by the sudden attack. She tilted her head and her expression darkened as she saw the mad grin the man behind her had on his face.

'_Shit! Move!_' Natsu urged his body in desperation, but to no avail.

"**Use it, you know you want to.**" A voice in his head said.

"Thank you for injuring him, Erza…" Gerard continued.

"**She'll die if you don't.**"

"But you used up your usefulness." The saint stated and flung his spear to the side and sent the lifeless body of Erza flying, landing on the snow and rolling a few feet. Her body wasn't moving. Was she dead?

Natsu's eyes widened in shock, his expression darkened as a single tear rolled down his left cheek.

"No…" He uttered.

"**Use it.**"

A growl.

**"Use it! Kill him!**"

Gerard laughed. He laughed more than he could. Erza was dead and Natsu was exhausted. This played out exactly as he wanted, until.

A black flash and an extremely strong punch to his face set him ablaze in a dark inferno and sent him flying to the forest and crash through over five trees. Dazed, he slowly stood up and through his blurry vision he managed to notice Natsu, who was standing straight, the seal's chains had been broken and the tattoo's that were supposed to be on his body were now falling towards the ground, incinerating in the black flames that were spiraling around the Dragon-Slayer wildly, burning everything around him, even the ground.

Natsu glared daggers at the man lying on top of the crashed trees. Natsu's eyes had changed. They looked similar to the one's that appeared when he used his _**Doragon Fōsu (Dragon Force)**_, only his indies weren't yellow, they were red and the white in his eyes was slowly starting to be covered by a black shadow.

Natsu roared releasing a huge amount of magical energy as his flames expanded towards the trees, igniting the whole forest in a dark blaze that was darker even than the night's sky. The sound wave of the roar alone was enough to create an enormous tremor, shaking the ground and creating a gust of wind enough to tear some trees from their roots and send them flying.

"Natsu!" They both heard a shout and with a blue flash a black-haired teen appeared beside that enraged dragon-slayer, "W-what happened? Your flames…" Rin gasped.

"I can control them." Natsu stated, then raised her finger and pointed towards the body of Erza lying a few hundred feet away, "Get her someplace safe."

"But…"

"Just do what I say!" Natsu screamed and the flames expanded again, slightly burning Rin and making him step back.

Unwillingly, Rin nodded. He didn't like the idea of Natsu using his flames and he knew that even though Natsu said he could control them, in reality – he couldn't. This wouldn't turn out good for neither of them. "Alright." Rin stated, "But I'll be back, make sure not to lose it until then." Rin said, Natsu nodded and the Demon-Slayer darted towards Erza.

'_This is bad._' Rin scowled inwardly as he examined the wound on the redhead's body. He wasn't sure if his flames could heal her as the cut went straight threw her stomach, but he had to try, for Natsu's sake. He placed his hand on her forehead and transferred part of his power to her, engulfing her body in a blue flame that soon enough closed up the wound on both sides of her back and stomach, yet he wasn't sure if her internal organs were healed. She picked her up, and turned one glance back at Natsu to see the Dragon-Slayer readying himself for an attack.

'_You better not succumb to __**him**__, Natsu…_'

* * *

**Bwahahahaha! A certain someone said that he liked how Natsu was Gerard's... how did you put it? Gerard's bitch? Gah, that will do. Yeah, Gerard's bitch. So there, Gerard getting his ass served to him. I so felt like he deserved it.**

**Anyway, yeah, Natsu going all beast-mode was something I intended to do for some time now, but just couldn't figure out how. Finally I reached the interesting point, haha!**

**Thanks for reading it! And please review! There can never be enough reviews, that's what I always say. *grins***

**Hope you enjoyed.**


	9. Promise me

It was a cold winter night. Chilling wind was breezing through the empty city of Magnolia. Everyone was staying indoors because of the cold. That meant the people living at Dragneel estate as well, where the lights shone brightly through the many windows the castle-like structure had. Screams of children could be heard from one of the windows on the third floor…

"Ryuu!" A young girl screamed; she had long white hair and red eyes. "Give it back!"

"Take it!" Ryuu said while holding a pink bunny plushy; he had spiky red hair that went to his shoulders and black eyes.

"Just give it back." Another boy sighed; this one had spiky pink hair and brown eyes. He seemed to wear a shoulder pad on his left shoulder.

"Shut up, Takeo!" The red-haired one said.

"What did you say?" A tick formed on Takeo's forehead and they butted heads.

"You heard me." Ryuu grinned; he was happy he could finally get his brother angry as he lit his fist up on fire and sent it straight towards him.

Takeo, as his battle reflexes were honed by his father, instantly summoned a sword and countered his brother's attack, making them both step back a few feet and ready themselves for a fight.

The sword wielding boy's free arm suddenly flashed white and a red buckler appeared on his hand. The buckler had the symbol of a dragon on the middle of it.

"Tch." Ryuu pouted, "The anti-fire shield again." He added as he threw the bunny plushy to the side.

"Too much for you?" Takeo grinned.

"You wish." And he charged, sending a quick punch at his brother which he blocked with his buckler. The flames on Ryuu's fist were absorbed and sent back at him in a flash of red and a small explosion, rocking the room.

Ryuu jumped back, gathering the flaming attack sent back at him with his mouth and creating a munching sound as it seemed that he ate the flames. He gathered more energy into his mouth and shouted, "_**Karyū no Hōkō (Fire Dragon's Breath)**_"

"Stop!" Ayame shouted, but it was too late as Ryuu cursed inwardly because he couldn't stop his signature move.

Suddenly, Ryuu felt a stinging pain in his head which closed his mouth and the spell exploded; causing X's to appear instead of his eyes as he fell to the ground with smoke coming out his mouth.

"Idiot, I told you not to fight indoors." A man in his forties said with a sigh. He wore a white shirt with a red tie and a vest on top, black pants and simple black dress shoes. He had short pink hair with the front slightly spiky and with a stubble on his jaw line.

"Daddy!" Ayame exclaimed as she ran towards the man and hugged his leg.

"Are you alright, Ayame?" The man said in a softer tone and crouched down, hugging the sobbing girl, "Didn't I tell you two not to fight indoors? Moreover not to harm your little sister?" He said with a scowl while looking at Takeo who was helping his brother up. The brothers frowned; they knew that their little outburst shouldn't have happened.

The man sighed and patted Ayame's back, "You're safe now." He smiled as the girl backed away so she could see her father's bright smile.

"Daddy, why do they fight all the time?" She asked as her father wiped the tears from her cheeks away.

"They're still immature idiots. Honestly, they're supposed to be older brothers, not the other way around." He glared at the boys, making them both sweat drop, "Anyway, Aya, your mother is looking for you." He smiled again.

The girl nodded and let go of her father, flashing her one of her smiles before grabbing her plushy and ran out of the room.

"Us too?" The boys said in desperation while running past their father.

"Not so fast." He said as he grabbed both of them by their collars and pulled them towards himself. He crouched and smacked both of them on their heads.

"What was that for?" Ryuu exclaimed while rubbing the top of his head.

"You know perfectly well what that was for." The man scowled, "Takeo, Ryuu, I know that you like to fight, but remember, Ayame's your little sister and you have to protect her. You can't let her be caught up in your messes."

"We know." Takeo frowned, "I'm sorry, dad."

"Ryuu?" The man glanced back at the red-haired boy.

"I'm not..!" He winced when he noticed the glare his father sent his way, "Okay… I understand. I'm sorry." He stuttered.

The man sighed again, then smiled, "I'm glad you understand. Now run along." He said as he stood up. The boys quickly ran out of the room.

'_Honestly… Twelve years old and they're already fighting each other with magic… I miss the days when they were six._' He chuckled. The man walked towards the other side of the room and glanced through the window. He remembered the day their youngest daughter was born. By all accounts she shouldn't have had white hair or red eyes; neither her mother nor he had those traits. He thought that it was a miracle, that the girl was his old friend's reincarnation, that's why he gave his daughter the name Ayame.

He viewed the scenery through the window. It was raining, just like that night.

The night that he lost a friend. The night he lost his little sister.

* * *

It was snowing on the forest burning in dark flames. The wind had risen up and it felt as if the whole forest had died as there was not one single animal in sight. They fled when they felt the dark energy coming from one certain Dragon-Slayer.

A roar echoed through the forest and a ridiculously strong gust of wind followed, pulling some trees from their roots and sending them flying.

'_Natsu, you better not succumb to __**him**__…_' Rin scowled as he watched his pink-haired friend be engulfed in massive black flames that destroyed everything around him. He glanced back at the lying redhead and picked her up. Readying himself and igniting his feet, he jumped towards where the students from Fairy High were supposed to be. Rin was glad Ayame had felt the shift in Natsu's energy and warned him in time that he could make it here.

Natsu raised one of his hands and examined the flames surrounding his palms. The black energy was dancing around his arm and he felt better than ever and now that the chains were destroyed by the sudden release of this massive magical energy, he could defeat his enemy, the blue haired man standing a few hundred feet away from him, Gerard.

Natsu clenched his fist and tilted it back. Suddenly, he punched the air, creating another gust of air that went through the trees towards his target and knocked him back.

Gerard groaned as he hit the trunk of another tree. '_That was the force of his punch alone?_' He exclaimed inwardly.

Natsu watched as his enemy gasped from the force of the impact. He faintly smirked, the only thing he wanted to do now was to defeat him, to hit him, damage him and** break **him.

The Dragon-Slayer disappeared and in milliseconds was in front of Gerard and sent a roundhouse kick at his head, making him crash through the same tree. Following up, he pursued the flying body of his enemy, kicking one of his feet he pushed his body into a standing point and punched him. In the stomach, the chest, the groin, the head, everywhere. A flaming uppercut to his jaw sent him flying, but again Natsu lunged, appearing before the flying saint already above the trees.

"_**Karyū no Hōkō (Fire Dragon's Roar)**_"he shouted and a massive amount of black flames shot from his mouth, engulfing the enemy only a few feet away from him in a blazing dark inferno. The magical beam collided with the ground, creating a huge explosion and a gigantic crater in its wake.

Gerard felt the brunt of both the hits and the attack. This wasn't good, he couldn't feel his legs, he was dizzy and his vision had gotten blurry. Gerard knew that he would die if this keeps up, he was getting desperate.

Suddenly, the smoke and dust around Gerard exploded in a golden light and Natsu saw Gerard standing there without any injuries and his magical power was even… higher? Natsu scowled as he looked down to his enemy who had a grin on his face.

"Let's continue!" The saint shouted and lunged towards Natsu with his high-speed magic, following up with a fist aimed at the Dragon-Slayer. He caught the fist with ease; the impact of the forces collided creating a shockwave. Natsu glared daggers at the man before him struggling to free his hand from Natsu's grip. Suddenly, the saint grinned and his fist started to glow. An explosion followed, knocking Natsu slightly back.

Emerging from the dust caused by the exploding magic, Gerard shouted, "_**Ten no Hikari! (Heavenly Beams)**_" And a seal formed in front of him, shooting multiple glowing magical beams towards the Dragon-Slayer.

Before the beams hit their mark, Natsu disappeared from sight and suddenly appeared before the blue haired saint, "_**Karyū no Enchū (Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow)**_" And slammed the attack at him, knocking Gerard to the ground once again in a dark flash.

Natsu extinguished the flames on his feet which were holding him mid-air and landed, "How did you recover?"

"You'll know soon enough." Gerard stood up and grinned at the pinkette. He took something out from his pocket and swallowed it. His power instantly shot up as veins popped on his muscles. He let out a battle cry as the ground around them shook.

'_This is… Shit…_' Natsu gritted his teeth in anger as he noticed that Gerard's power almost doubled.

'_That was my last one. I need to finish this before my energy runs out_.' Gerard mentally noted before readying himself for battle again.

And they both charged at one another. Their right fists slammed at one another's faces, blasting the trees behind both of them back. They kept slamming their most powerful punches at one another, neither of them flinching as the forest around them was being destroyed in gold and black lights.

Jaw, face, chest, stomach, groin, ribs, Natsu punched everywhere he could and he received equally strong punches throughout his whole body as well. His anger level shot up even more as he noticed that Gerard was enjoying this. Natsu's power increased as he subconsciously entered _**Doragon Fōsu (Dragon Force)**_ and blasted Gerard away with a kick to his face while shouting, "_**Karyū no Kagitsume (Fire Dragon's Claw)**_"

Gerard hit the ground, but managed to stand up again. The fact that the Dragon-Slayer could take all that punishment and still win annoyed him, aggravated him, he wanted to destroy the pink-haired mage right then and there, but the black flames swirling around him were dangerous. They weren't his that much the saint was sure of. Gerard glanced at the mage and his eyes widened from the sight.

Natsu's face was covered by his hair as his back was bent forward and his eyes glanced at the ground. A slight chuckle could be heard from the Dragon-Slayer's mouth which soon turned into a maddening laugh as he tilted his head to look at Gerard with a massive grin on his expression. One of his eyes was fully covered by the shadow engulfing them while the other had a slight shade of gray. An image of a huge black dragon roared behind him.

'_A-Acnologia?_'

"**Kill him, Natsu.**" A voice whispered in his head.

"Oh I will." Natsu's grin widened even more as he charged his enemy. Both Natsu's speed and power increased as the black flames around him expanded.

"_**Shiryū no Hakai Ken! (Death Dragon's Destructive Fist)**_" The red-eyed Dragon-Slayer shouted and instantly appeared before Gerard, slamming a fist engulfed in black flames square on his face, sending him flying through multiple trees.

'_Shiryū?_' Gerard exclaimed inwardly as he watched Natsu jump through the trees chasing him while laughing madly.

The saint finally stopped his flight as he crashed into a mountain, causing it to crumble on top of him. With anger, he blasted the rubble away and looked around. Natsu was nowhere to be seen. He suddenly felt magical energy and barely dodged a black flaming attack that looked like an arrow head.

"_**Shiryū no Isukumeru Yajirushi! (Death Dragon's Impaling Arrows)**_" He heard a shout and saw hundreds of the same attacks heading his way from the burning forest around him.

* * *

Rin heard another explosion and the ground shook violently, almost knocking him off balance. He turned his head backwards where his friend was fighting and saw a huge ball of black fire swirl around in an over hundred meter radius and then explode in a golden light, sending a massive shockwave. Rin crouched, covering his passenger with his chest from the incoming blast. He gave her a last glance before picking her up again and ran even faster than before. The state she was in wasn't good, even though he closed up her outer wounds; the internal ones were still there. She needed a doctor, and fast.

"Erza!" Rin heard someone shout, "Natsu!" It was the guys from Fairy High!

Tilting his head to the side, he saw the source of the shouts. Four people, two girls and one guy, and… a kid? Their shirts bore the insignia of Fairy High so that made taking the redhead he held in his hands to them his main priority, "Oi!" He shouted.

"Who's that?" Lucy wondered.

"Who… He's holding Erza!" Gray exclaimed, pounding one of his fists into his palm, readying himself for a fight.

"Stand down." Rin said, "I'm not here to fight." He said as he ran towards them.

"What happened to Erza?" A white haired woman asked.

'_The Demon, huh. Ironic._' Rin sighed inwardly, "She was caught up in a fight. You need to take care of her; I don't know whether or not she'll survive." The teen stated.

"Let me have a look." The short girl said. Rin placed her on the ground and the girl crouched before her, placing her hands on her chest her hands started glowing green. '_Healing magic? This one seems even better than Aya's…_' Rin watched in awe.

"Wendy, can you heal her?" Mirajane asked.

"The wounds are serious, but yes, she'll live." Wendy replied with a sigh of relief.

"What happened to her?" Gray shouted as he grabbed Rin's collar.

The teen sighed, "No point in hiding it now." He said as he slapped Gray's hand to the side and pointed towards the massive explosions a good distance away, "Natsu's fighting Gerard." He said.

"W-What…?" Gray stuttered, "Wasn't the pinky supposed to not have any magical power?" He asked.

'_Pinky? Hah!_' Rin laughed inwardly, "That was the initial plan. But he does have magical power. And the cause of Erza's wound is Gerard." He said, shocking the entire group.

"Gerard? That can't be!" Lucy shouted, "He's her boyfriend for God's sake!"

"You're lying." Gray stated as he butted heads with Rin.

"You think I'd bring her here if I was?" Rin retorted.

"No, he's right." Mirajane said, "It all makes sense. I noticed a change in Gerard when he became one of the ten saints." She scowled.

"Tch, fine." Gray pouted as he stepped back, "We need to stop them." He said as he marched off towards the direction of the fight.

"No." Rin stated as he placed a hand on Gray's shoulder, stopping him, "You won't interfere."

"Huh? Why the hell not?" Gray shouted.

'_If they see Natsu in the state he is in now, this could get difficult._' Rin noted mentally, "That's his fight; if you're his friends just trust him." He said.

"To hell with that!" Gray said as he swung his arm back towards the dark-haired teen, making him step back a few feet to avoid the blow, "I'm going." He stated.

Before he could, however, Rin appeared right in front of him with his sword raised towards Gray's throat, "You will not." Rin declared.

"You bastard!" Gray shouted and slammed his fists together, creating a blast of magical energy, making Rin step back, "_**Aisu Meiku: Ransu (Ice Make: Lance)**_" Gray shouted and pushed his hands forward, creating numerous curved ice lances that flew towards Rin.

Rin quickly sidestepped and jumped to avoid the incoming range attack, sheathing his sword back in its scabbard, he landed and dove through the rest of the incoming lances and when in range slammed his sword's hilt on Gray's jaw, effectively stunning him and knocking him back.

"Gah!" Gray groaned as he stood up, "_**Aisu Meiku: Hanmā! (Ice Make: Hammer)**_" He shouted again and an enormous ice hammer appeared above Rin and slammed itself on the ground where the Demon-Slayer stood.

After impact, it cracked and broke apart to reveal an unharmed Rin standing and glaring at Gray.

Gray growled, but before he could attack again, he heard something that sent a shiver down his spine, "_**Teiku Ōbā: Satan Sōru (Take Over: Satan Soul)**_" and as he tilted his head back he saw a flash of purple and where Mirajane was now stood a demon with dark eyes, a light red in a zigzag pattern crossing her right eye. Her hair became wild and her ears became bigger, extending backwards and became pointy. Her forearms and hands became covered in scales and grew a large tail, seemingly made of metal scales, "Leave this to me." Mirajane said in a husky voice and charged.

This time Rin had to get serious, though he'd be lying if he said he wouldn't enjoy a fight with a demon after such a long time.

Mirajane swung her claws and was surprised when she was violently knocked back by blue flames and sent flying through a tree. Gray watched in shock as one of the strongest mages in their school was so easily overpowered. He glanced back at Rin and what he saw almost made his jaw drop.

"You need to be careful, _**Majin**_ _**(Devil)**_" Rin smirked, "I am a Demon-Slayer, after all." He said as his whole body was engulfed in flames, a flame like pattern on the top of his head resembling demon horns and his ears grew pointier. A tail set itself free from behind him and its furry end lit itself up on fire.

"_**Tamashī no Shōmetsu (Soul Extinction)**_" Gray heard a shout and barely managed to move out of the way as a massive dark-purple beam was sent from where Mirajane was sent flying towards the Demon-Slayer, destroying everything in its path.

"_**Oni Taiji Āto: Hitei (Demon-Slaying Art: Negate)**_" Rin stated and calmly swung his flaming _**Kōmaken(Demon-Slaying Sword)**_down the incoming beam of dark energy and cut it in half, releasing his blue flames to absorb the explosion of the out of control magical power.

Mirajane popped out of the smoke and struck with her claws to which Rin barely managed to block by raising his sword and parrying. Another quick few swipes and parries and Rin was starting to be backed into a corner.

'_I'll be damned if I lose to a demon._' Rin growled and parried one of the incoming swipes with such force that sent the Demon back and raised his sword in the air, engulfed it in a large amount of flames and shouted, "_**Jigoku no Jikkō! (Hell's Execution)**_." Before swinging his sword down with his signature move with a flash of blue flames in a slash-like pattern.

Mirajane took the brunt of the attack which made a slash-like scar on her chest. She backed away as Rin lunged at her again.

"_**Ransu (Lance)**_" He heard another shout and noticed that there were double the amount of lances heading his way and had to use his flames to propel himself to the side to avoid the incoming attack. The lances kept going at him and he tilted his head to notice that there were two Grays!

"The hell?" Rin exclaimed.

"Gemini!" Lucy shouted.

Mirajane groaned as she leapt back towards where her blond-haired friend was.

"Mira! Are you okay?" Lucy exclaimed.

"Somewhat." Mirajane replied, "I've faced many Demon-Slayers before, but he's the first one to pierce through my skin like that."

"He's that good?"

"It's not only that." The demon shook her head, "He's good, but his flames… I don't know how to put my finger on it. They're… different." She said.

"Enough!" Rin shouted and, ignoring the incoming lances, charged while engulfing his sword in more blue flames. In seconds he was in front of the two sources of his annoyance and swung down.

"_**Aisu Meiku: Shīrudo (Ice-Make: Shield)**_" Gray barely managed to initiate his defensive spell and a huge flower-shaped ice shield appeared in front of him. The spells clashed and a loud clang was heard following an explosion of ice and flames.

Gray was knocked back towards where the two girls stood. Upon noticing Rin's grin Mirajane charged again.

When she reached him the mage continued attacking the Demon-Slayer with swings of her claws. Rin kept blocking, waiting for the perfect chance to end this battle, and he found it.

Mirajane slightly winced when the pain of the attack inflicted on her chest kicked in and Rin used this chance to swing again.

An earthquake rocked the ground and a cloud of smoke rose to where they were. Mirajane came flying from the smoke almost instantly and fell on her back near where Lucy was.

"What the hell happened?" Gray shouted.

"I don't know." Mirajane groaned as she got up, "But it wasn't me who blocked that attack."

Suddenly, the smoke cleared to show Rin slightly shaking from the force the enemy who stood before him displayed. He was a man in his forties with orange hair. He held Rin's sword as if it was some toy.

'_This just got way more complicated._' Rin scowled.

"Gildarts!" Lucy shouted.

"Are you kids alright?" The man asked while tilting his head back to look at his students. Quickly making sure their fine, he glanced back at the flaming Demon-Hunter before him, "Why are you attacking my students?" He asked.

"They attacked me first." Rin stated and ignited his sword on fire, making the man in front of him release the sword and Rin jumped back some distance, wary of the dangerous mage before him.

"Old man, he said Natsu's fighting with Gerard where the tremors are coming from." Gray said in between pants.

"Is that right?" Gildarts questioned.

"That's right." Rin confirmed and raised his sword in a defensive position, "And you'll have to get through me if you want to reach him." Rin stated. Was he confident in his own words? Hell no! He knew there wasn't a chance in the world for him to beat the strongest mage at Fairy High, but he just wouldn't go down without a fight, nor would he betray his friend, his older brother figure, because he was scared.

Rin's legs started shaking from the magical power Gildarts was emanating, but he forced himself to move, to charge while holding his sword up. No way in hell would he back down now.

Gildarts frowned. The last thing he wanted to do was to harm such strong youth, but he attacked his students and was blocking his path. There was no going around it.

Rin was but a few feet from Gildarts and he swung down.

As Rin was close to him, Gildarts sent a punch imbued with magical power towards the black-haired teen.

A loud clang followed by an explosion erupted. The ground around them had risen and smoke and dust engulfed them.

"Erza!" Wendy shouted. Both Lucy and Gray looked quizzically at her and noticed that their scarlet-haired friend was nowhere to be seen. They turned back and saw how the smoke had dissipated and in between Gildarts and Rin stood a panting Erza. She blocked Rin's sword with her own and Gildarts fist with her hand. Truth be told, both Erza and Rin would've been smashed to pieces if the teacher didn't cancel out his magic the last second.

"Stop this." Erza said, "He's not the enemy."

"What do you mean?" Gildarts asked as he lowered his hands.

"So you're alright." Rin asked with a shaky voice.

"I am. Thank you for bringing me to my friends." Erza replied, then turned to look at Gildarts, "The wound that Wendy healed, it was caused by Gerard." She said, shocking everyone.

"Are you sure? I mean, it's Gerard we're talking about here!" Gray shouted.

"I am." Erza frowned, "He attacked me from behind with the intention to kill."

'_And I didn't listen to Natsu's warnings and attacked him… I'm so stupid!_' She exclaimed inwardly.

"In any case," She continued, "please don't interfere, I will personally go and make sure they don't kill each other." She said and noticed her teacher sigh.

"You kids and your secrets." The man scratched the back of his head in annoyance, "Gah! Fine! Go, we'll stay here." He said and turned around.

"Thank you." Erza replied and turned to the confused Rin, "Come on, let's go." She said. Rin quickly regained his composure and nodded.

* * *

Gerard held a dark magical ball above his crossed arms. The shadows around them crawled towards the enormous spell as Natsu lunged straight towards it.

"**Altairis!**" Gerard shouted and sent the spell towards where Natsu was only a few feet away from him.

Natsu's grin widened, "_**Shiryū no Ryakudatsu Ken (Death Dragon's Marauding Sword)**_" he shouted engulfing his whole body in black flames and charged the attack head on.

The magical forces collided and exploded, causing a massive and deadly explosion of pure dark magical energy, creating an enormous crater and shaking the ground in its wake.

"Die already!" Gerard shouted in the midst of the blast and punched Natsu square on his face.

Natsu staggered, then got up and only laughed as he replied with two swift yet extremely strong flaming punches to Gerard's face.

The saint managed to catch one of his fists and swing the Dragon-Slayer around him and throw him towards the forest.

While in the air Natsu was still laughing as he collected magical power in his mouth, "_**Shiryū no Hoeru (Death Dragon's Howl)**_" he shouted and sent a gust of air imbued with magical energy at his target, shredding the forest around them into pieces.

In response to the attack, Gerard activated his _**Ryūsei (Meteor)** _spell and quickly flew out of the way. He then darted towards his still airborne enemy and began shooting multiple golden blasts at him.

Natsu was hit by the beams head on. Every single attack hit its mark and the magical power started to slowly create a ball of pure golden magical energy around the Dragon-Slayer. Gerard placed his hands together and collected enough magic to create a larger attack than the previous ones and shot it at the ball, creating a cataclysmic explosion that almost destroyed the whole forest around them.

A roar echoed and the smoke instantly cleared. Natsu stood in the middle of the crater, unharmed. An enormous grin plastered on his face as the rest of his eye was filled with a dark shadow. His indies glistened red and his body was covered with red dragon scales, his hands turned into red claws. Dense black flames came erupting from the ground spiraling around the Dragon-Slayer's body as black fiery wings formed on his back.

"**Obliterate him!**"

Natsu roared again. The shockwave of it alone was enough to send Gerard backwards towards the sky and, before he knew it, Natsu appeared behind him and slammed the saint to the ground with one of his claws.

He didn't even have enough time to respond. He fell to the ground and created a large crater. He screamed in pain as he felt his bones being broken. Before he could get up, Natsu landed painfully on Gerard's back and slammed him even further into the ground. Walking to the side, he kicked the body of the saint and sent him flying.

He collected an enormous amount of magical energy in his mouth, dark lines swirling around the black flaming ball near his extremely sharp canine teeth, "_**Shiryū no Hōkō (Death Dragon's Roar)**_" He stated and the black ball expanded and shot a flaming beam the size of a skyscraper towards the still airborne Gerard.

An explosion followed the collision as the trees were blown away. To say that the crater created from this blast was bigger than the others would be a serious understatement.

"Natsu!" The Dragon-Slayer heard a shout and tilted to see the cause of it. It was Rin, who was followed by Erza. After seeing the redhead some of his anger had been calmed and turned to relief. She was alive and well, Rin had managed to get her to Fairy High, "W-What… is this?" Rin gawked at the destroyed forest around them.

"Stand back. I'm not done." Natsu declared, clenching his claws and grinning at the direction where Gerard was supposed to be, "I'm sure you're not dead, show yourself!" he shouted.

"Natsu…" Erza whispered, in shock of the appearance Natsu had. Black flames swirling around him, black wings on his back and red scales on his whole body which even turned his palms to the shape of claws.

The smoke from the blast radius slowly cleared to show Gerard standing up and breathing extremely heavily while grasping his left arm. Or what was left of it. Erza gasped in shock to notice that one of Gerard's arms was missing and blood was violently gushing out of his shoulder.

Natsu grinned, then laughed maniacally, "That must hurt." He said, readying himself for another attack.

"That's enough, Natsu." Rin said as he gripped Natsu's shoulder, "He's defeated." He declared.

"Shut up!" Natsu screamed and by increasing his magical power released a shockwave, freeing himself from Rin's grasp and knocking both the Demon-Slayer and Erza to the side. Without further warning, he charged and flew straight towards Gerard, incinerating everything in his path.

As he was inches from his target, he engulfed his foot in a dark blaze and shouted, "_**Shiryū no Kagitsume (Death Dragon's Claw)**_" and kicked the extremely injured Gerard on his head, sending him flying. Natsu landed and noticed the saint's arm lying on the floor. He pointed one of his claws at it and it was set on black fire. Natsu laughed and charged again, doing an uppercut to the already flying Gerard, sending him into the air. The Dragon-Slayer wasn't done and followed the already lifeless saint's body and when he was close enough he gave one last devastating blow that sent Gerard tumbling to the ground in a massive gust of wind. He crashed onto the ground, but Natsu wasn't content. He created another ball of fire from his mouth and released another _**Shiryū no Hōkō **_at his enemy, creating another large explosion beneath him.

Natsu landed a few feet away from the explosion and examined the collision area.

"That's quite enough." He heard a female voice. Natsu grinned again, figuring that another enemy had shown themselves, but what he saw literally destroyed him.

The dust cleared to reveal an extremely large seal spinning around, the seal had blocked Natsu's attack, he was sure of it, but the magic seemed strangely… familiar.

It disappeared to reveal a middle-aged black-haired woman with glasses and green eyes.

"_Mother_!" Rin shouted in disbelief. Something in Natsu cracked as his magical power started fluctuating, slightly shaking the ground around them.

"What… What are you doing here?" He shouted in a feral voice.

"Simple." The woman grinned, "I'm here to kill you." She stated, "You've become a liability towards our true intentions."

"True intentions…? What do you mean?" Rin shouted again.

"You think I saved you from the tower to raise you? To help you find the one who put you in there? Hah!" The woman laughed, "I was the one who created the damned tower in the first place!" She shouted.

Now both Rin and Natsu snapped. Rin fell to his knees and tried to make sense of the situation. The person who had practically raised them, who was with them for more than half their lives was the reason for their initial suffering? No! That can't be! She saved them! How can…

Without saying anything further, the woman raised her hand and it lit up with a dark glow, "_**Shīru: Kurushimi (Seal: Suffering)**_" she stated and two dense dark beams flew towards the two who couldn't even muster up the willpower to get up and defend themselves.

"_**Shīru Sakujo (Seal Deletion)**_" They heard a shout and a flash of white following the appearance of a familiar white haired girl who captured both of the beams with her bare hands and made them disappear, "Get up, you two!" She shouted while looking back at them.

"Ayame? What took you so long?" Rin exclaimed.

"While I was destroying the rest of the barrier Gerard made on the tunnel, one of her lackeys attacked me." Ayame stated while glaring daggers at the woman before her.

"Where's Erigor?" The woman shouted.

"Dead." Ayame stated before engulfing her hands in white lightning, "You will soon join him!" She shouted and crossed her arms while pointing her index fingers at her, "_**Toranjishon: Uzu (Transition: Vortex)**_" She stated and the lightning made its way towards her palms, releasing a massive tornado of white lightning at her enemy.

"Ayame! How can you…" Natsu muttered while slamming his head on the ground.

"Because I value my true family more than that woman." Ayame smiled.

The statement made Natsu widen his eyes. Memories about how the three spent time together shot through him and all kinds of thoughts emerged in his head. Yes, he could easily call both Rin and Ayame his family.

Suddenly, a dark flash erupted and a huge blast of magical energy was sent from the raging tornado towards Ayame and hit her directly, sending her flying right past Natsu. He looked in shock, his eyes shook and he heard a mad laugh inside his head.

"Ayame!" Natsu heard Rin shout and tilted his head to see them both, "Ayame! Come on! Aya! Wake up!"

'_No…_'

Was she dead? Did his little sister just die before him?

'_No!_'

Natsu couldn't move. Everything around him was going in slow motion.

Another maddening laugh echoed in his head.

"NO!" Natsu shouted from the bottom of his lungs as magical power engulfed his whole body in a flaming black pillar. He kept screaming, both in pain and in agony. This woman had just killed his sister, one of the people that he had sworn to protect with his life. Anger overtook him and all Natsu saw was black as his mind wandered to the darkest place of his subconscious and he kept hearing that menacing and evil laugh.

"Natsu!" Erza screamed as she witnessed the black flames engulf the Dragon-Slayer. Violent screams could be heard inside the flaming pillar. Natsu's scream slowly shifted to a roar as his voice itself changed to a huskier one, a dark one.

The ground started shaking madly as the flames expanded. Erza could feel the disgusting magical power being emanated from the pillar as it grew exponentially. This magical power was enormous.

Suddenly, the flames compressed and sunk into Natsu's skin. His body started to change, he grew taller, wings and a tail sprouted from his backside. Natsu's hair grew wilder and the claws on his arms became longer, sharper. After the transformation, the black flames on his skin exploded, causing a massive shockwave which rocked the ground around them once again.

A roar deafened the forest and the smoke instantly dissipated to reveal Natsu whose body was completely covered in jet-black dragon scales. His hair became white and was longer and even spikier than before. Black dragon wings and a tail behind him made of dragon scales. His hands were claws covered in black flames that were spiraling around his whole body. Natsu's eyes had changed; they were entirely black, without indies and with scarlet-red pupils.

He opened his mouth and let out a breath of air and a gust of steam caused by the cold winter weather. A grin overtook his features as he laughed madly with a voice that wasn't his. "**Finally! I'm free!**" he shouted.

"Oh no…" Rin's eyes darkened as he watched Natsu transform into that… thing! "This can't get any worse." He cursed inwardly as he punched the ground.

"Die you foul beast!" The woman who caused the transformation shouted as she shot multiple blasts of magic towards Natsu.

It hit him directly on his head, exploding in numerous violent explosions.

"**Huh?**" Natsu growled and swung his claw, clearing the smoke out of the way, "**Oh, it's you.**" He grinned, "**Thanks for releasing me.**" He added as he engulfed the same claw in black flames and swung it again in five slash-like patterns.

The woman barely managed to activate a defensive spell to counter the attack. The spells collided and exploded, sending both the lifeless body of Gerard and the woman back.

Natsu laughed, "**Weak! Isn't there anyone stronger?"**

"We're retreating." The woman said as she grabbed Gerard's body and vanished.

"Natsu…" Erza muttered as she walked up to the raging black-dragon like teen, "What has happened to you?"

"Erza! Get away! That's not Natsu! That's…" Before Rin could warn her, Natsu grinned and swiped Erza away with his backhand, making her crash into one of the stones he had raised while fighting with Gerard.

"Damn it, Natsu!" Rin shot up, blue flames engulfing his whole body, "What's the point of saving her if you just kill her after you lose control, you damned idiot!" He shouted and lunged at his deranged friend.

"**Bring it, Demon-Slayer!**"

Rin charged while engulfing his sword in blue flames. Normally, he couldn't fight Natsu with his flames because the Dragon-Slayer would just absorb it, but when he was in that state he couldn't absorb flames at all. That was his one and only advantage.

Rin jumped and slammed his sword downwards with the intention of slashing his enemy's head open, but the black-dragon-like Natsu simply pushed the sword away with one of his claws and gave a punch directly on Rin's stomach, sending him upwards.

With a grin, Natsu flapped his wings and shot upwards, following up with an uppercut to Rin's jaw which sent him even higher and pursued again.

'_Damn it! If it takes a monster to fight a monster, then so be it!_' Rin exclaimed inwardly as he raised his demonic energy to the maximum. While airborne, his flames grew wilder and his red pupils distorted. His canine teeth grew sharper and he growled loudly. Another swift punch to Rin's stomach sent him flying downwards, but he didn't crash land, he landed on his feet and gazed towards the black dragon circling above him.

He swung his sword backwards and growled, "_**Jigoku no Jikkō (Hell's Execution)**_" while swinging it forward and blue flames erupted from it, traveling upwards with incredible speed and ferocity and hit his enemy dead on.

"**This is getting interesting!**" He heard a shout and Natsu landed, seemingly unaffected by the blow sent his way. Rin growled in response and charged again; slashing everywhere he possibly could while roaring madly, flames bursting out of every single slash he made. The black dragon blocked, blocked and blocked again. Rin's flames seemed to do damage to it, but it was minor, the only visible hits being the burn marks on its black scales.

A claw towards Rin's head made him dodge by ducking and retaliate with a swift slash towards his enemy's jaw. The attack didn't connect as Natsu grabbed his sword with his left claw and slammed Rin to the ground with his right. The blow would've killed the Demon-Slayer, but in his feral state his instincts managed to kick in and he raised one of his arms in defense and blocked the brunt of the attack, though the force of it still managed to destroy the ground around them, making Rin lose his balance.

The black dragon used this opening and, opening its mouth, it shot a blast of immense magical energy at the blue-haired teen.

In defense Rin emitted a large amount of blue flames which effectively blocked the attack and the explosion caused by the collision managed to send Natsu flying backwards.

Erza managed to stay awake even after the devastating surprise blow Natsu sent her. She watched the battle of the out of control Demon and Dragon Slayers in awe. Sure, they were monsters, both of them, but their raw magical power and the drive of their instincts alone was amazing. She gazed as both of them kept destroying everything around them while damaging each other slightly. The dark-haired teen's attacks seemed to connect more often because he was smaller and in turn more agile, but the rare blows from Natsu seemed to make up for the damage received exponentially.

In the midst of their battle Erza shifted her gaze towards the unmoving silver-haired girl that had entered the battle a few moments before Natsu changed. Was she their friend? She was enough drive for Natsu to lose his sanity over, so that must've been the case. The redhead shakily stood up and wobbled her way towards the lying girl. She inspected her body. The damage to her chest was bad as the spell that sent her flying almost pierced her heart. Erza placed her ear against her stomach, she was still breathing! "Hey…" She whispered, "Wake up."

Rin growled again as Natsu laughed at the Demon-Slayer's feeble attempts to defeat him, "**You're fast, I'll give you that,**" he grinned, "**but you're still weak.**" He stated and lunged towards Rin with speed that almost matched his own. In seconds Natsu was already in front of Rin and grabbed his face, following up by slamming his whole head on the ground.

Ayame groaned as her eyes slowly shot up, "You're awake!" Erza exclaimed in relief.

"W-who…" the girl stuttered.

"Relax." She said, "I'm Erza. A friend." She smiled.

"Where's… Natsu…?" Ayame kept stuttering as she slowly leaned up to a sitting position.

"Natsu… He-"And Ayame didn't hear anything else after she saw the state Natsu was in. Her eyes widened in desperation as she saw how Natsu pummeled Rin who was in his demonic form below him, being held down by the creature's knees.

Ayame sighed, "The idiots." She said as she slowly stood up. To Erza, her motion was as if she hadn't even been damaged. She noticed that the girl's magical power was slowly starting to increase, "Thank you, Erza, for waking me up. I'm Ayame, nice to meet you." She smiled back at the redhead after she bit her finger, blood oozed out of it and she drew a line on her arm from her elbow to her palm with her blood, "Now, if you don't mind, I need to stop my brothers' stupid fight." She stated as her body began to glow a bright white color, "_**Rirīsu: Daiichi no Shīru (Release: First Seal)**_" Her hair grew out and she seemingly got taller with her body becoming more mature as her wounds almost instantly healed. Erza watched the slowly changing Ayame as she walked towards both Natsu and Rin.

Natsu laughed and kept pounding Rin who, even in his demon form, was screaming in pain. Suddenly a white flash and a blast of immense magical energy blasted him away. He changed the trajectory of his flight with a few flaps of his wings and landed on his two feet, "**What is…**"

"Honestly, you two…" Ayame scowled, "I'm away for five minutes and you already started a fight." She said as she passed Rin who growled while looking at Natsu. She patted her two fingers against Rin's forehead, creating a magical circle within which a cross had been etched and Rin's flames instantly extinguished, his demonic features returned to normal and he fell on his back, losing consciousness.

"**You're the one who placed that seal on the weakling.**" Natsu grinned, "**I have to thank you. When the seal you placed was altered by Gerard, I realized that I could keep it in check.**" He explained, "**I purposely let him use his magic until one of his friends was in danger.**"

"_**Rirīsu: Dainiji Shīru (Release: Second Seal)**_" Ayame whispered and her body created a crater below her from the insanely large amount of magical power being released so quickly.

"**And when the moment came I released my grip on the seal, causing Natsu to be helpless and made him use my power, which helped me crush his resolve.**" The creature laughed.

"Yes, I am aware of that." Ayame stated, "But you are nothing compared to Natsu. Stop pretending to be the strongest one when in reality you are weaker than any human alive." She provoked him, which seemed to work as Natsu's grin changed to an angered expression.

"**You bitch…!**" Natsu roared and charged her with a flaming fist placed forward.

Ayame blocked the incoming attack with ease by placing her hand forward and creating a shield of pure white magical energy. She expanded the shield and made it explode, knocking Natsu back. "_**Tenshi no Hōyō (Angel's Embrace)**_" she whispered and two chain like magical energy beams sprouted from her still raised hand, grasping the creature and with a wave of her hand she flung him upwards and slammed him to the ground behind her.

In truth, Ayame was extremely strong. She had never told neither Natsu nor Rin that she used three releases to hide her true form, because she never used them. The reason for that being that the spells shortened her lifespan and the third one could potentially kill her, but this time was different. Natsu had lost control, and she wouldn't let her older brother figure fade away like that.

"**You…**" Natsu stuttered as he slowly staggered his way into a standing position. Suddenly, a bright white light blinded him as he glanced towards his enemy. He heard a voice.

"_**Saishū Rirīsu: Enjeru (Final Release: Angel)**_" She said and the white light expanded in an enormous cone. It slowly subsided and revealed Ayame standing there with white angel wings on her back and with a white magical aura glued to her body, creating a cloak of light as her power brightened the night's darkness and instantly cleared away the black fire incinerating the whole forest.

"Come, Natsu." She said, "I will save you."

Natsu gritted his teeth and roared before lunging at her with his fist enveloped in dark flames creating a sword-like pattern, "_**Shiryū no Ansatsu Burēdo (Death Dragon's Assassination Blade)**_" He shouted and pushed his black scaled arm forward.

Ayame didn't defend herself. She raised her hands to her sides as if accepting an embrace and simply smiled as the blade cut through her stomach with Natsu's claw. She coughed up blood from the sudden impact, but maintained her smile intact. The silver-haired girl suddenly grabbed Natsu's arm with her left hand and didn't let go.

"I'm glad, Natsu." She whispered to the struggling beast which tried with all of its might to break free from the hold on his arm, "I'm glad I could spend time with you and Rin. You two truly are like brothers to me." She stated with a soft voice before emitting a white magical glow from her right palm and placed it against Natsu's chest, "That's why I will sacrifice myself to free you from your darkness."

"_**Shīru: Chi no Kyōtei (Seal: A Pact of Blood)**_" She whispered softly and both of them were engulfed in a magical white light.

* * *

Natsu woke up and all he saw was the deranged scenery before him. Everything was destroyed, the ground, the trees, everything. He felt something warm on his hand and tilted his head downwards and what he saw made his heart ache as his eyes widened.

"Ayame!" He shouted when he saw that his hand had pierced his friend's stomach. She was breathing heavily as she grasped Natsu's free hand to keep herself standing.

Natsu quickly and carefully removed his hand from her stomach and, while holding her, tumbled to his knees while laying her down.

"Aya… What happened? I…" He stuttered as he saw the many cuts and bruises on her body.

"Natsu…" She whispered while shakily placing a hand on his cheek, "I'm glad you're okay…"

"No… Aya, what the hell happened?" Natsu cried out.

"That's…" She coughed up blood, "N-not important." She stuttered.

"Y-Your stomach!" Natsu felt his eyes swell up as tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. He watched as the crimson blood slowly oozed from her wound through the side of her body towards her silver-hair, painting it in its dark-red color.

"Natsu, listen to me…" She began, "I don't have much time."

"No! Don't talk like that!"

"Natsu, please protect Rin while I'm gone, "She began, the bright smile that she wore on her face never flinching for even a second, "And don't fight, because there won't be anyone to stop you both…" she continued.

"Ayame…" Natsu couldn't control himself anymore as tears started rolling down his cheeks. He lifted one of his hands and placed his palm on Ayame's palm which was touching his cheek.

"Promise me…" She coughed again, "That you'll protect him, no matter the cost."

"I... I promise." He sobbed.

"I'm glad, Natsu." She said as her smile widened and her eyes closed, her head slowly tilted to the side.

Natsu instantly felt how Ayame's hand lost its life and tumbled to the ground.

"Ayame? Ayame!" He screamed while looking at her lifeless body, tears rolling down his cheeks, "Don't you dare die on me! Damn it!" He leaned to her and placed his forehead on hers, "Damn it, Ayame… Why did you… WHY?" Natsu screamed again.

Erza glanced at the Dragon-Slayer who was now back to his normal self and the girl she knew was Ayame below him. She watched as Natsu sobbed with his head placed on top of hers. The scene shook her heart greatly. Erza didn't know what it was like to lose a comrade, but watching Natsu made her want to cry.

Natsu's head shot up as he roared in desperation and grief. He killed his friend. His sister. And not only did she forgive him but she asked him to protect the person closest to her heart.

The clouds gave in and rain poured on the ground. Rain in this side of the country was a phenomenon that you wouldn't see often because of the extremely low temperatures, but it still rained. It looked as if the sky itself was crying.

The night that his sister passed away was a night showered by the tears of the skies and the Fire Dragon's roars of grief.


	10. The Different Paths We Take

**I can't believe I finally updated, teehee!  
**

* * *

_**Chapter 10: The Different Paths We** **Take**_

* * *

As the Fire Dragon's roars echoed throughout the northern part of Fiore, we change to a different scene in an unknown and isolated location. A dark, dimly candle-lit room full of books and diaries, runes and their transcriptions, magical scrolls and other wizardly necessities. One of the room's windows was open and the sound of the night's wind rustling the nearby tree's leaves sounded through the room. An uneasy and mystical feel surrounded the place. Suddenly, a blue ball formed inside and flashed brightly before two people appeared. One seemed like a black-haired woman, kneeling on the ground. The other – a blue-haired man, his head rested on the woman's legs. Grasping her surroundings, the raven-haired woman quickly took the other in both her arms and stood up. She walked back towards where the window was and near it was a bed on which she laid the man on. He seemed to be unconscious; his face bore a scowl and an expression of severe pain. His left arm was bleeding severely and there was no surprise why, the whole part from his shoulder downwards was missing and what was left of his limb was a drastic burn mark on his shoulder. The blood flowed freely, almost like a fountain, staining the bed's white sheets with a sorrowful scarlet shade.

The woman quickly surveyed his wounds and frowned, '_Why didn't you listen to our warnings, Gerard?!_' She contemplated in her mind while placing her hands on his burned shoulder in an X pattern. A green magical glow started to shine brightly from her hands for a few seconds before she sighed tiredly, '_This is beyond what I can do…_' She thought with a pained expression.

"Ultear!" The woman called as her glance shot back to the other side of the room and focused on a shut-closed wooden door. A groan of annoyance could be heard from the other side before the door bashed open violently.

A woman about the age of twenty stood outside the room; she had dark-purple hair tied with a bow-tie, a few bangs covering her forehead and brown eyes, she wore a white, long, gold-trimmed dress. She glanced at the sight before her and a mock filled smirk graced her features, "Oh, what happened _mother?_" Ultear noted the word with as much spite and mock as she could, "Your pet got killed after disobeying the master?" She laughed as she folded her arms beneath her chest.

"Look, brat," The older woman growled as she stood up and glared intensely at Ultear, "I outrank you and you will speak to me with the respect I deserve. Now, go and call the healers, this wound is beyond what I can heal!" She ordered.

Ultear laughed maniacally, "You outrank me? You think I care?" She glared back at the woman while walking towards her. When she was only inches away from her face, Ultear spoke again, "Use that tone one more time and we'll see who outranks who in terms of power."

The older woman bit her lip; it was true that in a direct confrontation with Ultear she wouldn't stand a chance. Her magical power wasn't nearly enough to damage her and she wasn't even a battle-type to begin with. But what mattered the most wasn't this; it was the blue-haired mage lying half dead on her bed! "Ultear, I'm warning you…"

"Hey, Ultear, do what she says already." A familiar, rather young male voice sounded from the other side of the room. Both women turned around and saw a smirking blond, spiky-haired man leaning on the wall next to the door, "If you don't that guy will die, you know? I don't think the master would be too pleased about that." The newly arrival stated with his hands folded below his chest.

"Sting-san." Ultear spat with anger and disappointment, she turned back to the older woman, "Consider yourself lucky, _mother_." She threatened, her voice filled with malice and killing intent. She turned around and walked towards the exit with a fast pace. Near the door, she glanced at the blond with narrowed eyes and a dangerously vile smirk, "The old man sent his lapdog to check on his wench, huh? I wonder what will happen when he's not around."

Sting glared at her wide-eyed with a maddening grin, "I sometimes wonder that too, Ultear-_chan_." He retorted and laughed as Ultear grimaced and left the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, Sting-kun?" The raven-haired asked, staring half-heartedly at her 'savior.'

"The master wishes to know of Gerard-san's status, nothing more and nothing less." The blond stated with a tone of finality.

She frowned, "What he did was stupid. He challenged Dragneel, at first indirectly, then head on."

Sting nodded, "Explain."

And then she started explaining of Gerard's actions while three people arrived and tended to the man's wounds. She retold of what happened in Fairy High, how he stupidly revealed who he is, how the battle in Tartaros' guild hall went, the event on the train and their final showdown in the forests of Wintermane. She left out the transformation Natsu had when he lost control; she wanted to find out more about it herself before reporting those events to the master.

The man smirked fondly, "So Natsu-san completely destroyed him?" He asked and when the woman nodded, continued, "That's to be expected. What was the idiot thinking challenging him like that?" He laughed.

The woman frowned again, "But what are we going to do now? We lost one of our strongest, and if that's not enough, Ayame and Rin are out of the picture too."

"Ah, do not worry about that. The master will think of something. I don't think that manipulating Natsu-san will be too hard, as it has been shown in the past." Sting reassured her.

"Excuse me, Sara-sama, Sting-sama," One of the three healers spoke up as he came closer to the two mages, "We are unable to heal Gerard-sama. At this rate he will die within a few hours."

"Is there really nothing that can be done?" The woman, now known as Sara, asked, her voice filled with disappointment.

"Hmm." Sting hummed while scratching his chin, "We could always use the relic."

"But that will…" The healer spoke again but was interrupted by Sara who raised her hand.

"Use it. I don't care what happens, it's his own damn fault for disobeying orders." She declared.

The man's face visibly paled and his eyes slightly widened but he nodded nonetheless and ran out of the room.

Sting grinned, "I wonder what'll happen to the poor bastard after he's back on his feet. The relic's going to bend him in ways I can't even imagine."

Sara nodded, the frown still present on her features, "That is true. I have seen it in action many times but the results were always different." She stated before locking her green eyes at the blond, "What is the master thinking of doing about the plan?"

He sighed, "Nothing has changed. We will use Natsu-san to kill the last saint and revive that dark mage you've been worshiping." Sting said before turning around to leave the room,"Call me when he's awake, okay? I can't wait to see this."

And as Sting left, the woman looked back at Gerard and sighed. She wondered how the master would decide to manipulate Natsu after what had happened. It wasn't even a question if Natsu would fall for it or not, it was a question of what method the man would use. She grinned, if the plans are still in motion the road to eternal darkness and a world of their rule wasn't that far away.

* * *

Pain, grief and sorrow. None of these feelings were foreign to him and he had learned to cope with them or even block them out entirely. During his life he had steeled both his mind and his heart to never be affected by these emotions and it worked, but this time it was different. This time these feelings radiated from him while he sat in the hospital's ward, his hands on his knees supporting his head while covering his eyes. Images kept creeping up in his mind, how he thought that both Erza and Ayame had died, how he lost control and how he woke up with his arm through his sister's chest. No amount of self loathing could absolve him for what he did and he realized that which didn't make it any easier.

"Are you alright, Natsu?" Lucy asked while she sat down near him and glanced at him worriedly.

His answer didn't come. Natsu just sat there, unmoving. She placed her hand on his shoulder and tried to shake him but he didn't move. She got worried and tried to move him more but Natsu's head shot up after hearing someone call his name.

"NATSU!" The voice shouted and from the other end of the corridor to their direction marched Rin, Erza and Gildarts. Rin was stomping angrily, fastening his pace with each step he took until it turned into a full blown sprint.

"Rin…" Natsu mumbled solemnly, his eyes drifting to the floor to avoid his piercing glare. As Rin ran, he drew his sword and blue flames erupted from his body. In a matter of milliseconds he appeared in front of Natsu, his blade raised and its sharp edge against the pinkette's neck while the blue flames engulfed both of them in a blue vortex of pure destruction, scorching everything in its path.

Lucy gasped and jumped back towards both Gildarts and Erza, barely able to avoid the torrent of flames that appeared when the two slayers clashed. She turned to Erza and saw her scowl while she bit her lip and crunched her palms into fists and while Gildarts kept an eye on the redhead.

Erza took a step forward and was about to intervene when Gildarts stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him with a quizzical expression.

"It's their business, let them handle it." He said, making her grind her teeth.

"But he'll kill him! Natsu's in no condition to fight!" She protested angrily.

"He won't. You said it yourself; they're like brothers, right?" Gildarts said while motioning to the blue ball of flames engulfing the two down the corridor, "We have nothing to worry about."

Erza was about to say something further but Lucy spoke up before she could, "I hope you're right." She said. Her clear acknowledgement of what Gildarts had just said made the re-quip mage give in and let the two slayers handle their own business. Gildarts was right and she knew it; the matters between Rin and Natsu were something between them and not her. They needed to settle it themselves.

Rin eyed Natsu with anger, barely able to hold back the blade that was almost piercing through the pinkette's neck; his blue flames raging almost out of control, he could even feel his demon side slowly taking over his mind, but through all his power Natsu didn't even seem to be affected.

"Why?" Rin growled through clenched teeth.

Natsu couldn't muster a reply. He just couldn't. His eyes met Rin's for a split second and almost instantly shot to the side. Who was he kidding, how can he say anything when he can't even look him in the eyes.

"I told you to never use that power again after what had happened with Akira… And you still didn't listen to me." Rin said while he stood up straight and lowered his sword, his voice could send a shiver down anyone's spine. He kept glaring daggers at Natsu, getting even more enraged by the fact that he didn't even spare him one single glance, "Look at me!" He shouted and cocked back his fist. Rin pushed his fist forward with as much strength as he could planting it straight on Natsu's face, sending him flying out of the vortex of blue flames through the corridor and one of the hospital's walls. He smashed against the wall like a ragdoll and went through it, landing outside on one of the hospital's cars.

Natsu bounced off of the car and landed painfully on the hard asphalt headfirst. He sprawled out on the ground and glanced at the dark sky; rain fell down his face and almost made it look like the Dragon-Slayer was crying. He looked to his side and saw Rin land on the same car Natsu smashed against, denting it even further. Blue flames were circulating around the Demon-Slayer, his sword drawn and his power made it morph into a blue flaming blade. He simply stood there and glared at Natsu, "Come on, stand up." He growled.

Natsu did as he was told, but he still kept his silence and averted his gaze to the floor.

"Why'd you do it?" Was the simple question Rin voiced that has been circulating in his mind. He couldn't say that he hated Natsu but he still felt unimaginable anger towards him. So much so that he was considering breaking the pinkette in two, but that depended on whether or not he was going to say or do anything.

"Because I was desperate." Natsu finally answered, making Rin's eyes go wide. Never in his life has he heard Natsu admit to being desperate, absolutely never. He always has a plan, he always knows how to pull them out of a hard situation; that's how it's always been, "I thought Gerard had killed Erza, I was pinned by the seal, I didn't know what to do." He explained, finally meeting Rin's gaze, "It felt different, having so much power… It felt… good." Natsu admitted.

Rin grinded his teeth, "GOOD?!" He shouted, "You killed Ayame! How in the fucking hell can you say that it felt good?!"

Natsu lowered his head, not knowing what to reply.

"Tch. That explains why Igneel died!" Rin screamed and lunged at Natsu, his flame enhanced blade placed at the side, ready to slash his opponent.

After Rin said those words something in Natsu clicked. His head shot up, his legs bended slightly and he readied himself to a combat stance, his arms instantly lit up on fire from his fists to his shoulders. He roared as he met Rin's blade with his bare fist, blue flames clashed with red ones and exploded upon impact. Blue and red flames scattered everywhere, battling for dominance, each trying to destroy the other. The magical attacks created a vortex of destruction around them, creating a small tornado of flames.

Moments later, a small explosion sounded from the ball of flames and Rin shot out of it, sent flying towards the already half destroyed ambulance car. He stabilized his crash with his feet, getting into position and tilting his head upwards barely noticing Natsu who was above him and sent a flaming kick his way. Rin barely blocked the blow with the broad side of his sword and roared, releasing a small shockwave of magical energy which sent Natsu backwards. He landed on the ground and readied himself for what was about to come next.

"_**Jigoku no Jikkō! (Hell's Execution)**_" Rin shouted and slashed his sword; a torrent of blue flames followed the motion and rocketed towards the Dragon-Slayer.

Natsu sidestepped the attack ant lunged towards his brother. Rin sent another slash of blue flames towards him, hoping for the attacks to make contact, but was surprised when Natsu dodged them all and in seconds was in front of him, "_**Karyū no Tekken**_ _**(Fire Dragon's Iron Fist)**_" He screamed and pushed his flaming fist forward, hitting Rin square on the face and sending him flying through the ambulance car.

Natsu straightened his posture as he watched Rin crash against the ambulance. He winced; fighting again after losing so much magical power and sustaining so many severe injuries in his previous fight did a number on him and he was basically running on fumes. He hoped Rin would listen to him but what he heard next made his eyes widen in shock.

"_**Oni Taiji**__** Ā**__**to: Akuma no Dansu! (Demon-Slaying Art: Devil's Dance)**_" After Rin uttered those words a sphere of blue magic erupted from the ambulance, violently destroying the car and everything around it in a small five meter radius.

Natsu stared in awe at the display of power. He knew that this was one of the strongest powers a Demon-Slayer could possess; a power which gives complete control of an element to a user and where he could manipulate magic itself and create tangible matter from it. It allows multiple different attacks to be made and, since Rin already controlled flames, his element is strengthened even further. Not to mention that Rin's flames are born from Satan.

Two glowing red eyes highlighted from the blue pillar of flames before hundreds of small beams shot directly at the Dragon-Slayer. He barely noticed what had happened and channeled what was left of his magical power into his feet, enabling him to move at speeds even the stronger mages would have a hard time seeing. He sidestepped, tumbled, jumped and crawled just to dodge the incoming beams. He knew that this wasn't just simple magic, but magic turned solid.

As soon as the beams halted, Natsu cocked his head back and checked the damage done to the surroundings. Everywhere the beams hit there were small holes with a small blue orb glowing inside it. Moments later all of the small balls of light exploded, causing massive damage to the surroundings and leveling half the parking lot.

'_That would've killed me._' Natsu deduced and looked back where Rin was supposed to stand but was taken aback when he saw the Demon-Slayer standing mere inches from him staring at his onyx eyes with his glowing red ones.

Natsu lost his breath when the hilt of Rin's sword smashed against his stomach and almost made him lose his posture. Rin cocked back his fist and slammed Natsu in the face, effectively sending him flying.

While in mid-air, Natsu channeled some of his magical power in his mouth, "_**Karyū no Hōkō! (Fire Dragon's Roar)**_" He screamed and a huge torrent of crimson flames erupted from his mouth and leveled everything in its path.

Natsu landed on his feet and examined his surroundings. When the smoke cleared, he scowled when he noticed that Rin was nowhere to be seen. He looked around and finally noticed Rin running circles around him in speeds he has never exhibited before; he body-flickered from one place to another while sending multiple slashes of blue flames towards Natsu.

Natsu carefully but swiftly dodged every single attack sent his way and when he noticed that the attacks had stopped he instantly knew what Rin would do next. Natsu lifted both of his arms and created a ball of fire between them. When Rin appeared in front of him he knew he was right.

"_**Satan no Girochin! (Satan's Guillotine)**_"

"_**Karyū no Kōen! (Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame)**_"

Once again the blue and red flames clashed with one another creating an explosion of magical power. Both parties were sent crashing towards different sides of the parking lot. Natsu crashed against the hospital's wall and fell to the ground while Rin destroyed a few cars in his landing.

Natsu shakily got on his knees and supported himself with his arms. He was breathing extremely heavily and could feel his consciousness drifting away; his magical reserves were at zero and he could feel the second entity inside of him trying desperately to break out.

"**Let me out.**" He heard a voice scream in his head. His right eye lit up in a black flame and changed; it became red while the pupil became slit.

'_Get out of my head!_' Natsu screamed inwardly while he smashed the ground with his fist in frustration.

A dark laugh echoed through his mindscape, "**Are you trying to order **_**me **_**around? Don't be so naïve!**" The same dark voice reverberated through his brain as the pressure from its power slowly destroyed Natsu from within. His hands gave in and his forehead violently met with the asphalt. The dark flames from his right eye expanded through his whole body and created a circle around him. Natsu screamed in pain as the Death Dragon was taking control of his mind and body.

"Don't give in!" Natsu's head shot up and he saw Rin standing a few feet away from him; his sword in hand, his left shoulder bloody with the clothes on it torn to shreds. The power behind Natsu's last attack dealt more damage than the Demon-Slayer had expected and the damage for this underestimation was severe, "After what he did… don't you dare give in to him again!" Rin said in a stern, angry tone.

'_After what he did…_' Those words were stuck in Natsu's head as relief dawned on him and the anger and pain built up in him slowly faded away accompanied by the black flames of death. Now he knew that Rin wasn't blaming him for killing Ayame, but the Death Dragon.

Rin slowly walked towards Natsu while he sheathed his sword and hung it on his back. He walked up to him, grabbed his collar and pulled him up, "No, I know you didn't kill Ayame and I don't blame you for it." He said, "But I blame you for losing control and allowing that bastard to kill her!" He added as he pushed Natsu forward, making him fall to the ground on his back. Rin stomped past him and continued to walk.

Natsu was barely able to move but the sight of Rin leaving struck something deep in him, "Where are you going?!" He asked through coughs.

"I'm leaving." He declared, shocking Natsu, "Natsu… While I love you like I would love a true brother… the thing inside you killed her. I can't stay with you for fear of driving my blade through your heart in hopes of killing **him**." He said while continuing his walk.

"No…" Natsu muttered while trying his best to crawl towards Rin. Flashes of Ayame's last moments dawned in his mind.

'_Promise me… Promise me that you'll protect him, no matter the cost._'

"Wait…" He pleaded but when he tilted his head to glance at Rin he was already gone.

Natsu stared at the place where Rin was. He didn't move, he didn't avert his gaze, he didn't even breathe. He felt his eyes swell, but one wouldn't be able to realize that he was crying due to the raindrops that were going down his cheeks, "Damn it!" The Dragon-Slayer screamed as he bashed the ground with both of his fists and repeated the process for a couple of times.

He had failed her. Her last request was that he would protect Rin and he failed her. He was unable to calm him down or keep him safe, instead he got angry and fought with him, injured him and let him leave. In his mind Natsu didn't deserve to live. He was the worst kind of scum that didn't deserve the pleasure of getting to live another day, spend life with his friends or family.

When he thought that all hope was lost, he felt something warm on his shoulder. He turned to the side and saw a familiar face with brown eyes and long, beautiful scarlet hair. He sniffed the air and he instantly recognized the scent, _her _scent. She was staring at him worriedly, her hand gently massaging his shoulder as a gesture that he wasn't alone.

Normally, Natsu wouldn't accept pity for his life, but this time was different. Now he realized that he was weak, weak to the point that he couldn't do anything. He wanted to be comforted, pitied… no, he needed it. He didn't care anymore, he would show how weak he really is and deal with the consequences later because there was nothing left for him.

Natsu cried out and lunged towards Erza, his face against her breasts while he screamed while crying. Erza's eyes widened slightly at the action but she quickly realized what was happening and wrapped her arms around the Dragon-Slayer's head and caressed his hair, "It's okay." She whispered, "It's all going to be okay."

She listened as Natsu cried and couldn't help but feel her heart ache. It was painful seeing Natsu cry. As she knew him he was proud, honorable, friendly and compassionate. And above all – he was strong. Watching him be reduced to this… it struck something deep within her being. She swore to herself to make sure never to let Natsu cry again. Never would he be destroyed emotionally to the point where he would even beg for pity. She would make him himself again if it's the last thing she does.

Gildarts watched solemnly as Erza comforted Natsu from where he stood near the large gap Natsu made when he crashed through the hospital. In his long years of being a wizard Gildarts has gone through much and he could imagine what the both of them are going through and couldn't help but feel sorry for them. Suddenly he felt familiar magical energy make itself known around him.

"They're both monsters." A blond man with a lightning-shaped scar on his right eye said as he walked up to the older man.

"Laxus." Gildarts glanced at him, "How long have you been here?"

"Since the Demon-Slayer activated the _**Demon's Dance**_." Laxus said.

"Hmm." Gildarts nodded, "Yes, they're both extremely strong and their regenerative abilities are incredible. Natsu's already almost fully healed and that other boy's shoulder was almost healed when he left as well." He said as he folded his arms and watched how Erza helped Natsu up.

"You recognized the flames the Demon-Slayer was using, right?" Laxus asked, Gildarts nodded.

"Aye, Satan's flames." Gildarts confirmed.

"And those black flames? I haven't seen anything like it."

"Me neither." Gildarts answered truthfully, slightly surprising the blond, "But, like Satan's flames, those flames are evil and sinister. I can't believe both of them can shoulder that kind of burden at their age… It's unimaginable." He frowned.

Laxus seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before he decided that nothing of interest was left and that he'd relay the message he was sent to tell him, "Oi, gramps said you and Natsu are to come to him. He's in the fourth ward." He said while he turned to walk away.

The orange-haired man glanced at the retreating figure of Laxus, "Did he say what he wants?"

Laxus shrugged, "No idea."

* * *

Rin stopped near a vending machine to get some shelter from the rain. He was completely soaked but thirsty. He threw in a couple of coins in to the machine and pressed a few buttons but nothing happened. The machine was stuck! This simple unlucky event worsened his mood even more. He crouched down and buried his face in his arms. In a show of frustration he cocked his fist back and slammed it against the vending machine, effectively bending it and forcing tens of soda cans to drop from the machine violently.

"God damn it…" He cursed, "Why did I say that… Why the fuck did I leave when I have nowhere to go?" He asked himself while he felt tears running down his cheeks.

He wondered what Natsu was going through. He knew it was painful and he couldn't even imagine to what extent. Sure, Rin loved her, but Natsu was the one to kill her. Rin felt guilty for talking the way he did to Natsu, but he didn't know what to do. He sure as hell wouldn't just go back and apologize, he thought that Natsu wouldn't even want to hear it and would bust his ass up so bad he wouldn't recognize who he was anymore.

"What a sad sight." He heard a feminine voice and turned around to see its source. What he saw was a hooded figure watching him curiously.

"Who the hell are you? Get the hell out of here before I cut you in half." Rin growled while glaring daggers at his annoyance.

"My my, the hostility…" The figure laughed while it removed its hood, "Don't you remember who I am, _**Akuma No Ryoushi? (Demon Hunter)**_" When the person removed the hood it revealed long, bright pink hair and green eyes with beauty marks under both of them.

Rin was taken aback by the surprising person and jumped back slightly, making him land on the ground on his butt, "Ikaruga!" He exclaimed.

"I'm flattered you remember me, Rin-kun." She said with a chuckle.

"What do you want?" He said with annoyance while he crossed his legs and supported his head with his arm.

"Did something happen?" She asked, a slight glint of worry was too obvious in her voice, even for him.

He sighed, "Yeah." Rin admitted. He had crossed blades with her before so he thought he could trust her. It didn't look like she was sent to kill him and he needed someone to talk to. He explained what had happened between Natsu and Gerard, how Ayame died, how he and Natsu fought and his departure.

Ikaruga listened intently, nodding sometimes when he thought she understood the reasoning between the certain actions he was talking about, "And that's about it. Now I have nowhere to go and I've no idea what to do next." He said as he took one of the soda cans that were lying around and opened it, "Want one?" He asked as he threw her one of the cans.

Ikaruga caught it and opened it. She took a sip before talking, "I see it hasn't been easy for either of you since our last encounter. And that girl… I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault, why're you sorry?" He asked, faking a smile, "Anyway, mind answering why're you here? Trinity Raven hasn't put a bounty on my head, have they?"

"No such thing." She shook her head, "I left that guild a while ago." She admitted.

"You left? Didn't think I'd ever see that happen." The Demon-Slayer said before taking a sip out of his drink.

"I have a proposition." She declared.

The declaration made Rin quirk an eyebrow. Normally he wouldn't listen to her since she was an assassin, but now that he didn't have anywhere to go he thought he didn't have anything to lose, "I'm listening."

"Stay with me." She said, making Rin almost choke on his drink.

The teen smacked his chest a few times to regain his breath, "What are you…" He started to talk but noticed her serious expression and perked up, "What do you mean?"

"Simple." She nodded, "We travel the world together, investigate the underworld and put a stop to the dark guilds rampaging through our country and beyond."

"Wait wait… Isn't that too grand even by your standards? And why the hell would you want to destroy dark guilds when you were part of one?" Rin asked, slightly confused.

Ikaruga frowned, "I wasn't in Trinity Raven by my own choice. Our battle opened up my eyes, but that is a story for another time." She said, "Will you join me?" The woman asked as she gave her hand to the Demon-Slayer.

Rin eyed the hand suspiciously before asking, "What do I get from this?"

She smirked, "I was getting to that. You will teach me the art of Demon-Slaying and I, in turn, will teach you the way of the Silent Sword."

Rin's eyes widened. He remembered how she fought and how by sheer luck Rin managed to defeat her. Even if he had a bunch of powerful techniques on his side, having a power that is able to cut virtually anything would certainly benefit him in more ways than one. He grinned and took her hand.

"You've got yourself a deal."

* * *

Natsu walked together with Gildarts and Erza down the hospital's hall. Erza held him by his hand while Gildarts walked besides them. The older man knew that Natsu was in no shape to see the principal and that he would be better off staying with Erza, but if he called then it must be urgent.

They neared the door to the fourth ward and stopped, "Erza, stay here, the principal only requested Natsu and me." Gildarts said and Erza, albeit reluctantly, nodded and let go of Natsu's hand. Gildarts opened the door and both he and Natsu entered.

The 4th ward was dark, lit dimly by one single candle. Natsu noticed and old, short man sitting on the ward's bed, "It's a pleasure to meet you, _Salamander_." The old man said, slightly surprising Natsu.

"H-How…" Natsu muttered, shocked.

"How do I know who you are?" The older man smirked, "I've known who you are since you entered my school, boy, that is why we have kept you under constant surveillance."

"Who are you?" The pinkette murmured.

"Me? Simple. I am the principal of Fairy High. The third magic saint, Makarov Dreyar." He declared.

As Natsu heard those words he instinctively wanted to ready himself into a fighting stance and attack the man, but since he was no longer part of the organization he forced himself to calm down.

"What? You aren't going to attack me?" Makarov chuckled.

"No, I will not. The organization which gave me the mission of assassinating the magic saints has betrayed me and I am no longer willing to do their dirty work for them." Natsu declared with a tone of finality.

Makarov hummed, "So I have heard. That is good."

"So what is to become of me? I take it you will turn me in to the council."

"No, I will not." He said, shocking the pinkette.

"W-What?" Natsu asked, shocked yet again by the declaration, "B-but… I killed! I killed nine magic saints and their escorts! I've committed crimes against the nation!" He shouted.

"Calm down, boy." The older man said sternly, "The methods you used against the strongest saint, Akira Abendroth, is still a mystery to me, not to mention the other saints, but…" he paused, "You did my school a big favor; You exposed Gerard for who he really is and saved our council president. For that I am eternally in your debt."

"What are you…?"

"What am I saying?" Makarov finished his question for him, "Simple. I want you to stay in Fairy High under our surveillance and protection. You had a dark past, have you not? Our school is like a family and I want you to experience that feeling." The man smiled sincerely, "And as for the murders of the magical saints… I believe you were used by that organization that wants me dead and you'll have to atone, there's no doubt about that. We will keep your identity secret but in turn you'll have to pledge your loyalty to Fairy Tail and it's Order."

"Order? What do you mean?" Natsu asked; the sudden events planted so much confusion in him that he had a difficult time actually making sense of the situation.

"That will be explained at a later date; for now I want you to come here." He said and gestured for Natsu to come forward. Hesitantly and after Gildarts urged him, Natsu took a step forward towards the saint. The old man stood up on his bed and grabbed Natsu's left shoulder. He put his hand over it and it started to glow a bright red color. After he was done and removed his hand, Natsu glanced at his shoulder and saw a red tattoo of Fairy High's insignia on the spot where the old man's palm was, "This is proof that you're a part of our Order. This will give you recognition as a mage throughout the whole country and we will be able to constantly monitor you and know your whereabouts."

"I…" Natsu muttered.

"Don't worry, boy. Take some time to rest; we will have time to speak when we are back home. Since now you are a part of the Order you are part of my own team of mages which gives you my full and undivided attention."

"I-I understand."

"Good, now go. I assume the president is waiting for you outside." Makarov said motioning towards the exit.

As Natsu exited, Gildarts glanced at Makarov, "You think that was a good decision? I mean, he did…"

"Yes, I do." Makarov declared, interrupting him, "Tell me something Gildarts, could you sense even a glint of malice in his heart? Were any evil intentions or the need to kill present in him?" He asked and Gildarts shook his head, "That's your answer. I assume that ever since he was young he only knew the rule of 'kill or be killed,' which isn't something a child should grow up with. We will make him recognize what it is to be happy and live without the fear of something killing you when you least expect it. We will give him a place to call home."

The orange-haired man couldn't help but smirk at the Master's words, '_I guess it's to be expected of you, Master._'

* * *

**Yep, I finally updated. Weird, huh? I'm not going to say that I'll update soon or that I'm back or whatever the hell else, but I promise that, at the very least, I won't abandon any of my stories. Be it hell or high water, I'll finish them!**

**In other news, I've got a poll up on my profile. Check it out, would ya? I'm interested in your opinions! And if you want to know why I haven't been updating or if you simply want to hear updates from me simply check my profile out, there's a section called 'Input from yours truly' which I've added recently.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you like it!**


	11. Sympathy

**Skype DND - Check.**  
**League of Legends off - Check.**  
**XBox unpluged - Check.**  
**Doors locked and doorbell dismantled - Check.**  
**Phone off - Check.**  
**Headphones on - Check.**  
**Music blasting at full volume - Check.**  
**Fuck everything besides the word doc. in front of me - Check.**  
**And here you go! This chapter got me so freaking hyped you wouldn't even believe it. Hope you enjoy!**

**By the way. I need a beta. Any takers?**

* * *

_**Chapter 11: Sympathy  
**_

* * *

The forests of Wintermane were quiet and tranquil as ever. Snow fell down from the sky towards the many trees adorning the landscape, wind blew through the leaves of the trees, creating a cold breeze which sometimes intensified and blew the snow with it in a graceful dance.

Suddenly a pitch black explosion rocked the forest, ripping hundreds of trees from their roots and sending them flying to each direction. Black flames spread through the remaining forest, incinerating what was left of the once peaceful natural habitat. A maddening laugh reverberated through the forest as a pillar of flames shot towards the sky ejected a body skywards. The person stabilized his flight and started glowing a bright yellow color before shooting multiple golden beams towards the ground. The attacks made contact and numerous shockwaves erupted from the explosions.

Gerard watched as his enemy took the attacks head on but before he could do anything else a claw from behind sent him crashing against the hard ground. Upon landing, he shakily stood up and glanced behind him; Natsu stood there, covered in black scales and flames, his red slit eyes focused on the blue-haired saint.

Natsu growled before cocking his fist back, '_You're going to pay._' He shot forwards and was about to pierce his target's chest when another person appeared and abruptly blocked his attack, albeit shakily.

The Dragon-Slayer jumped back and eyed the newly arrival, "Erza!" He shouted, "Get out of here, he'll…!" He was too late; the blue-haired man had sent his arm through the redhead's chest and sent her lifeless body flying to the side.

When Natsu saw the maddening grin Gerard was sporting everything went black. He lost control; his flames went berserk, destroying everything around him. He could feel the second entity inside of him taking control, but this time was different. He saw everything but he couldn't move his body.

"**I told you I'd kill the weaklings you call your friends, remember?**" A voice boomed in Natsu's head as his body started moving against his will. In only seconds Natsu was in front of Gerard and sent a blast of black flames point blank at the saint.

A mad laughter echoed throughout the region as the saint's body disintegrated into nothing, "Natsu!" The possessed Dragon-Slayer heard a shout and turned to the side where Rin and Ayame had been and were running towards them.

'_No!_' Natsu screamed inside his mind, '_Get Away!_'

The Death Dragon grinned, "**Too late.**" He said and vanished, appearing behind the white-haired girl. His claw grasped her head and lifted her up before anyone else could realize what had happened. The black-scaled slayer grabbed her waist with his other claw and forcefully pulled in different directions, decapitating the girl.

Natsu stared in horror at the images before him, his whole body was starting to shake as tears ran down his cheeks, '_What is happening… no… RIN! GET OUT OF THERE!_' He shouted from the bottom of his lungs.

"**It's no use!**" Natsu's body spoke with a voice that wasn't his as he turned to the Demon-Slayer who was charging towards him, blade in hand, blue flames surrounding him. The dragon grinned and intercepted the other Slayer, clawing at his face, effectively making him scream as the nails dug into his eyes. The dragon did an uppercut and lifted Rin off of the ground by a few feet and continued maiming his whole body with its claws.

Natsu watched in horror as Rin screamed louder and louder as each claw dug into his skin. Gradually his screams died down and when he wasn't even moving the possessed Natsu stopped his brutal onslaught and let the Demon-Slayer's lifeless body fall to the ground. The Death Dragon grinned and stomped its foot against Rin's head, causing a minor shockwave beneath them.

'_Damn it, stop!_' Natsu screamed.

"**We're just getting started.**" It said and turned to the side where Erza stood, blade in hand.

Natsu's eyes widened, '_What are you…_'

"**GUESS!**" He laughed and charged the redhead who tried to block the blow but it went straight through her sword. The dragon grabbed the girl's throat with his claws and lifted her up. She tried struggling against its grip but it was no use, this entity was just too strong.

"**Die, Scarlet.**" The being ushered and flung its free claw forward.

Natsu gasped and leaned up, heavily breathing in air and covered in a cold sweat. He looked around; he was in a train cart, in front of him slept Erza in a different seat. He kept breathing in, trying to calm himself down, '_A nightmare?_' he felt slightly relieved from his troubles before a voice sounded in his head and the anxiety returned in full, "**No, not a nightmare but a vision. A vision of the future.**" A maddening laugh echoed in his mind as Natsu gritted his teeth. He shifted from a laid down position to a sitting one and let his feet touch the ground. He leaned forward and supported his head with his hands while his elbows rested on his knees.

'_This is bad._' He concluded as he wiped the sweat of his face. Opening his eyes, he surveyed the cart and glanced out the window; it was dark and judging by the position of the moon it has been about five hours since they left Wintermane.

Natsu felt slightly weird being completely healthy while in a train. He would have to ask that Wendy girl to cast _**Troia**_ on him every time he'd go by transportation. Right before entering the train he found out that the girl was a Dragon-Slayer which surprised him. She asked about Igneel but he turned her down saying that he didn't know his whereabouts. How was he to tell his fellow Dragon-Slayer that his foster parent is dead? She was still a little girl and knowledge that dragons _can _actually die would worry her.

He shifted his gaze to the side and saw Erza's beautiful pale face which the moonlight illuminated. She looked peaceful, a small smile gracing her features while she grumbled something incoherent. '_I wonder what she's dreaming about…_' Natsu pondered as his gaze was locked on her. He couldn't help but smile, after everything that happened she was always by his side. She was the one to take him to Wendy and the one who found him a cart and promised to stay with him. As much as he wanted to refuse her he couldn't help but feel relieved that he still had someone.

Natsu leaned back on his seat and closed his eyes, trying to get at least a few hours of shut-eye before they arrive at Magnolia, but the nightmare that previously woke him up still haunted his dreams.

* * *

The Dragon-Slayer stood in front of the door to the apartment complex he was staying in. He had gone off the train with Erza, Gray and the others but parted ways since his home was in the other side of town that theirs' were. He sighed and opened the door; walking through the stairs to the third floor Natsu wondered what would be waiting for him in his home. Ayame wouldn't, that's a fact that still sent a shiver down his spine and a sharp feeling of sadness stung his gut. And Rin? He didn't know. If the guy did actually leave for good Natsu wished him the best. Sure, he regretted letting him leave, but you have to move on, right? He understood the reasons for him leaving and couldn't blame him. Being in the presence of someone who had killed the person that you regarded as more than a friend can have that effect on you.

He finally reached his apartment's door and stopped for a second. He huffed and shook himself from his daze before he unlocked the door. Upon entrance he was met with an eerie silence. He threw his bag over his shoulder onto the couch and proceeded to his room. Natsu sniffed the air and something bugged him; a scent that he had never smelt before was present. If someone even dared to tamper with his stuff he would seriously _tear _that person to _shreds_. Although it didn't help that he hadn't slept since going ballistic in his fight with Gerard. Nightmares kept haunting him every time he closed his eyes and he couldn't help but imagine that monster inside of him burning in hell every time he was woken up from sleep by the images the thing sent. If that freak thought he would take over Natsu again anytime soon he was more stupid than he looked, that was what Natsu kept telling himself.

He took a few steps forward, still smelling his apartment and tried to find the source of his distaste. This smell… it was salty, spicy, hell, he thought he smelled rotten eggs as well. He had no clue what this smell was, but once he entered his room he scrunched his nose; the whole damn place had that stench! That meant it was practically impossible for him to find its source if it was actually in his room. He quickly made for his window and opened it, hoping to rid the place of that foul smell. He sighed and breathed in some fresh air when a cool breeze of wind entered his room.

As the wind blew past, Natsu's ears quirked as he heard something so quiet that even he with his enhanced hearing had trouble picking up. He turned to the side and glanced at his closet where the sound had come from, '_Beeping?_' he pondered and stepped forward.

While cautiously walking towards the offending sound Natsu connected the dots. '_Weird, different smells, someone I don't know in my apartment and silent beeping. If this is what I think it is…_'

He opened the closet swiftly and his eyes widened at what he saw. A small metallic contraption, about the size of a DVD player was stashed there; a vial of some blue liquid strapped to it and some different colored wires plastered along it went towards a small screen that counted down time according to the beeping.

'_3…_'

'_2…_'

'_1…_'

'_Son of a…_' The last word was muffled out by his room being engulfed by a blue explosion.

A ball of blue flames expanded through his whole room, glassing the entire place as if a shock of pure plasma exploded. The flames shot through the window, sending Natsu barreling out of the blast radius and tumbling on the roof of another building. Before coming to a stop he was sent flying by a kick and when in appropriate height was kicked again in his stomach, making him gasp for air and sending him flying on the apartment complex's roof. He rolled to a stop and crouched, grabbing his arm that was burned from his fist towards his shoulder, the left side of his body was littered with burns and the side of his face had its skin almost completely burned off. He growled, how the hell were flames _burning_ him?

"I am sincerely surprised you survived, filth." A voice boomed and a man dressed in a blue trench coat appeared before him. He had a long, sheathed katana in his left hand and a white mask on his face with a red, devilish grin and one eye plastered on it, his short brown hair was slicked backwards and spiked out in every direction.

"W-what the _fuck_…" Natsu muttered between breaths. He was honestly shocked that flames had actually _hurt_ him. His skin was being constantly burned off but didn't expand since his abnormal regenerating power kicked in and instantly healed the parts where it burned, not letting the injuries expand but not healing them either. Natsu glanced up with his right eye and noticed the mask the mysterious enemy bore, '_A Vanq?_'

"Burns, doesn't it?" The man said as he held up a small metallic ball in his hand, some blue dots glowed from it, "These Etherion grenades are a marvel of ingenuity I must say."

'_Etherion?_ _Shit…_' Natsu cursed inwardly. He had heard of this material before and the destructive effects it brought if someone were able to weaponize it, but none were able to. Until now, apparently, "What the hell does a Vanq want with me?"

"Don't play dumb, Demon." The man sneered.

"Demon?" Natsu laughed loudly, "If only it were that simple."

"Tell me, scum, how were you able to avoid death?"

Natsu coughed, "It was simple," he spoke. He needed to buy time, someone must have noticed the explosion and are bound to come his way, he hoped. There was no way he would be able to fight someone in the condition he was in. Exhausted and injured by an unknown substance didn't boost his motivation at all, "Dragon-Slayers can smell literally everything and figuring out that it was a bomb was fairly easy. Too bad I never expected it to be made of Etherion." He coughed again, shakily getting back to his feet, "We can even discern magic by its smell."

"Is that so?" He sneered again, "Why don't you try identifying my magic then?"

"You have to use it first." Natsu grinned and bit back a groan. The pain from his constantly burning flesh agitated him beyond the boundaries of being simply pissed. This was getting bad, **he **might decide to show up and fuck things up even more.

"You wish, Demon." The 'Vanq' said and openly charged at Natsu. The Slayer was barely able to put his hands up and block the blow from the still sheathed katana. The force behind the blow was enough to make the pinkette take a few steps back and reinforce his defense, after all, it was the only thing he could currently do since it seemed that the blast from before didn't only burn his skin but messed up his insides as well.

His opponent opened up with a few more swipes from his sheathed katana which Natsu was barely able to block again. The coat wearing man placed his palm forwards and blasted the Slayer away with a burst of magical energy.

Natsu was sent flying off of the building and was barely able to channel some magic into his feet to propel himself back on it and land on his feet, '_Shit, I feel my magic restoring itself, but can't it go any faster?!_' he cursed and channeled what magic he had into his mouth, ready to blast his enemy to kingdom come.

The man bent his legs and placed his katana to his side; he unsheathed it and slashed it in rapid motions, sheathing it again after every swipe. Natsu was ready to intercept the 'Vanq's' attacks with one of his own but, at the last second, his eyes widened and he redirected his attack to the side, pushing himself away with the flaming blast, barely able to avoid a blue sphere which formed where he stood and was cut in three different pieces.

Natsu landed on his feet and glared at the man, "You slow time." He deduced with a growl.

The pinkette could tell the guy smirked behind his mask, "I'm honestly impressed; let's see if you can dodge the rest!"

Natsu was taken by surprise when the same spheres appeared around him and closed in on him in the blink of an eye. He slammed his foot against the roof and created a hole large enough for him to fall down in. Each and every one of the spheres burst into pieces as the swordsman's attack ruptured them.

This time the swordsman was surprised when he heard the Slayer shout, "_**Karyū no Hōkō! (Fire Dragon's Roar)**_" and when from below him a pillar of fire ascended. He was barely able to tumble to the side to avoid the deadly flames.

Natsu emerged from the hole he caused and surveyed the damage he had done. Noticing that the Vanq was unhurt made Natsu curse, "It seems you still have some fight left in you." The swordsman said as he straightened his posture.

"More than you'd think." Natsu retorted and bit his lip. It was true that his magic was slowly regenerating but not at the pace he needed to fight someone who could control time. After every single action he made that used his magic his reserves would be completely depleted, but thanks to that dark creature inside of him it slowly regenerated. A few seconds was all it took for him to be able to launch another attack, but he needed to be even faster. His burns were slowly receding, but, again, slowly was not an option for him right now. The damage caused to his arm, while healing, still caused major strain on his body and hurt like hell, as he would put it. In his state, it aggravated him immensely, and that meant a loophole for **him **to go on a rampage.

'_Good thing the guy doesn't know; I might still be able to buy some time to charge my magic._' Natsu thought hopefully, "What do the Vanqs want with me? I've faced some of you before, but you guys never come at someone who's not a demon." Natsu said. The 'Vanquishers of the Unholy,' or so they called themselves, had often gone after Rin since he was none other than Satan's son and so Natsu had to fight them numerous amounts of times, most of them bloody, but never had they gone after him in particular so openly.

"You still don't get it, do you?" He replied as the one blue eye from behind the mask glared at the Slayer, "We have records of your fight against the magical saint Gerard Fernandez. You beating him was the result of the demon inside you, and it's the same with every other saint you killed, isn't it?"

Natsu's eyes visibly widened before he snarled, "You have _no fucking idea_ what you're talking about. Shut your mouth!" He shouted, his irritation busting through every emotional wall he had put up to keep him calm. He deduced that he had about three attacks to dish out and instantly disappeared, reappearing behind the swordsman and shouting, "_**Karyū no Tekken! (Fire Dragon's Iron Fist)**_" before slamming a flaming fist down which his opponent parried with his sword.

The force behind the attack was more than the Vanq had anticipated and it sent him flying a few feet back. He lowered his sword and glared at Natsu who was grinning like a madman and held his hands up, "Come get some." He waved towards himself, gesturing for the Vanq to make his move. This seemed to agitate him slightly as the blue-clad man unsheathed his sword and lunged forward.

Natsu dodged the incoming stab by stepping to the side. He used the sword as a stepping stone and lifted himself from it with his arm. He raised one of his feet up and ignited it with fire, "_**Karyū no Kagitsume! (Fire Dragon's Claw)**_" He shouted and swung his leg down.

The Vanq was barely able to lift up his arm in defense and block it with his forearm. The attack sent a massive shock down his very spine and the ground around them almost gave, creating a small crater below their feet. He quickly shifted the position of his sword to bruise Natsu's offending limb and swiped upwards.

Unfortunately for the Vanq, Natsu had saw that coming and shifted his body in the air to avoid the sword by mere millimeters and ignited his arm ablaze, "_**Karyū no Enchū! (Fire Dragon's Flaming Elbow)**_" he announced and from the air swiped his elbow backwards and hit the man square on his face, effectively sending him flying.

Natsu landed on his feet and glanced at the same arm he used to send the Vanq flying. The side of his bicep was cut clean open and was bleeding rapidly. He quickly closed the cut with his flames and glanced at the already standing foe, "You're fast." He said. He managed to block two of his attacks and reduce the damage of his last one immensely in the span of three seconds.

"I don't need praise from you, filth!" The man roared and lunged forward again.

Natsu smirked. In the time they fought his wounds from the Etherion blast had already healed and he felt his magical energy going full blast. This was already won. He launched himself forward, intent on intercepting and overpowering the Vanq's attack and wining this.

But what Natsu hadn't expected was the Vanq increasing his speed and appearing before the Slayer in a matter of milliseconds. The same blue sphere he used before expanded from the swordsman's body and engulfed both of them. Time had slowed exponentially; it almost felt like he had stopped moving in general while the Vanq kept moving at his normal pace. Natsu noticed him pulling out some metallic ball from his trench coat's pocket and instantly realized what it was. An Etherion grenade. Was he intending…? '_Oh shit…_' Natsu cursed as he pulled the pin and left the nade afloat in the blue sphere while he himself ran like there was no tomorrow.

The grenade exploded, destroying the blue sphere and sending more blue flames in every direction. Natsu flew out of the explosion and landed on the hard building's roof; his body unmoving, his breath slowed and his pulse barely noticeable. Burn marks etched on his whole body and the upper part of his clothes were burnt to a crisp.

Natsu barely managed to open his eyes and glance towards the Vanq. His vision was blurry to the extent that he could only just make out his figure. Moving his body was out of the question, the Etherion blast did more than just burn his skin, the energy behind it littered his insides and messed with his organs.

He was careless; he got too cocky once he realized he could go all out and forgot the fact that his enemy still had something that could basically render him helpless or, in the worst case scenario, kill him. If it weren't for the second entity inside him healing his wounds he would already be dead. The weapon he used was too deadly; it could easily kill a mage if caught in the blue blaze.

Natsu felt his consciousness slowly fade away as his vision became even more blurry. Last time he was hit with the Etherion grenade hurt like _hell_ and only his skin was burnt. Now not only his skin is being constantly damaged by burning and regenerating again but he as a whole. Natsu inwardly smirked; at least he shielded his eyes and could see the face of the man who would end his miserable existence. Scratch that, he could only see the mask, but it was enough to know that a _God damned Vanq _had the courtesy of showing a blade down his spine. Natsu had regrets, that was a funny question to even ask. He killed saints; he murdered innocent people that dared cross him while he did his mission. _Mother _had manipulated him, saying that if he killed saints he would get closer to finding out who killed his foster father, Igneel, but that was just a ruse Natsu was still surprised of believing. Killing Ayame, letting Rin go, injuring his friends. It all weighed heavily on his heart and he was actually glad that it would all end here.

Natsu managed to bend his charred lips into a smirk and close his eyes, '_Guess I'll be seeing you pretty soon, huh dad?_' He thought and waited for the Vanq's blade to pierce his heart, but fate always had other plans, didn't it?

Before Natsu felt anything he heard a loud clang and slowly opened his eyes. His vision had gotten slightly better and he managed to discern the blue-clad man standing a few feet away from them, staring at the person whose back was turned to Natsu. He noticed his savior, black armor with wings on its back and long red hair dangling over the person's back. His savior turned around, weak onyx eyes met angry brown ones and Natsu instantly recognized her.

"Natsu…" Erza murmured as she crouched near him and held his arm. She glanced at his body, his eyes weakly observing her actions. His whole body was burned to a crisp, his hands were shaking slightly and he was fighting just to breathe. Just what did this man do to injure the Slayer so much?

The pinkette watched her and couldn't help but feel relief and worry wash over him at the same time. Relieved that she had come and worried that she didn't know what she was up against. He had to tell her to be careful, '_God damn it, move!_' He shouted at himself mentally, willing his body to move but all he managed to do was only slightly raise his hand to cup her cheek.

She felt his charred hand touch her cheek and grabbed it to help him out. Was he trying to tell her something? Or was this just a last act of desperation? She had hoped it was the former and it was confirmed when Natsu, albeit with all his might, ushered one single word that made her angrier than she has ever been before.

"E…Ethe…rion…" He coughed out, almost losing his consciousness from that simple action. He felt his energy drain away and he lost control of his hand that would have painfully fallen down if not for Erza's own grip. He breathed out heavily and his breathing increased slightly. He was healing. It was slow, but he was definitely healing. Natsu did the only thing that he thought he could and closed his eyes. It was time to talk to **him **face to face.

Erza snarled angrily and placed Natsu's limp arm gently on the ground. He had closed his eyes and probably lost consciousness, but judging by his pulse he was definitely alive. That made her feel some relief but the anger didn't fade one bit. Her body started glowing a bright color before it faded and she was clad in spiky black armor, a large greatsword, black and covered in shadows hung loosely from her back. Purgatory armor. She reached out and pulled at its hilt, flinging the large weapon above her and smashing it on the ground, creating a small crater below it.

"Scarlet." The man hummed, "I've always wanted to test my blade against yours, let us see…" he was interrupted when the same greatsword smashed against his side and sent him flying to another building altogether.

Erza couldn't control her rage, not this time. This man had used Etherion on Natsu. _Natsu_, who was already damaged both in body and mind. He had returned to Fairy High to rehabilitate, not be hunted down by scum like him. Her right eye glowed red and her glare intensified towards where the swordsman had landed. He was good; she would have to give him that. In that split second she attacked he was barely able to block her blow with his own sword and save his life. Erza stepped forward and lunged herself from the building towards where the Vanq had landed.

She propelled herself right where the man was supposed to be and without even caring for him swung her large sword against the roof, demolishing it in the process and creating a large shockwave of dust that spiraled upwards when the swordsman jumped out of the attack. He stuck his sword on the side of a building and stood on it, observing the dust that had spread everywhere, creating a hiding spot for the scarlet knight. He managed to pick up the slight rustle in the dust and jumped away from the building right before the same greatsword smashed against its side, shaking the building and making its windows shatter.

Erza heard a shriek come from the large building and bit her lip after she examined what she had done. With those three simple strikes three buildings were already damaged to the point of almost being demolished. If she wanted to avoid civilian casualties she would have to tone it down a notch. And besides, this armor didn't really work against her opponent since he used speed as his main asset. Her whole body glowed brightly again before revealing her new armor. Cheetah modeled torso and shorts, a bushy tail hanging loosely from them and two cheetah ears on her head. The Flight armor. Two shortswords materialized in her hands and she kicked off of the building with immense speed, heading towards the cloud of dust she had caused in her second attack. She was sure that bastard that hurt Natsu was there.

* * *

A mad laughter echoed throughout the shadowy mindscape as Natsu glared at his dark duplicate bound by silver chains that burned its dark flesh away before it regenerated again and the process repeated itself.

"**You're pathetic! Losing to someone like him by a damn grenade! I have to admit, it hurts like hell though, I even felt it from here.**" The Death Dragon boomed, its laughter reverberating against the invisible walls of Natsu's mind.

"Shut up you damn freak!" Natsu snapped, "It's your fault in the first place for sending me nightmares of you… killing _her_!" He shouted and drove a flaming fist against the chained beast's face. Natsu knew that it wouldn't affect it much, but he hoped for at least _some _damage, yet all it did was make the creature laugh.

"**My fault?**" It laughed again, "**No, the dreams are her fault. She tried mimicking the spell Akira cast on you and would have succeeded, but it seemed she didn't have enough magical power for it and was only able to chain me partially. Lucky for me, all I need to do to get loose is anger you!**"

"**And it seems it is working.**" The beast grinned as Natsu kept smashing its head with multiple flaming fists doing little damage to it.

After Natsu's _little_ fit was over and he was getting exhausted of punching the Dragon for about a hundred times it spoke again, "**You know, you really are pathetic though. Even now you still need the help of others. I can't believe you actually believed what that whore had told you when she picked you up from that idiotic tower!**" It laughed again.

Something dawned in Natsu's head, "Wait, you knew?" He gaped.

It kept laughing maniacally, "**Of course I knew. Who would be stupid enough to believe that killing ten people would bring you closer to finding the killer of a damn Fire Dragon?**"

Natsu glared at his other self, outraged by what he had just heard, "You…Why… Why the _FUCK _didn't you tell me?!"

"**Are you retarded? Why the hell would I tell you something that would bring me closer to awakening?**"

"And back then I didn't even know that you existed. Were you too weak, you coward!?" Natsu screamed.

"**Wrong. I wasn't a coward, but I have to admit that I was too weak.**" It chuckled, which sounded wrong on so many levels, "**Back then I could only observe; I was only at full strength when you fought Akira**." It explained.

Something dawned in Natsu again. It was true that Natsu had never felt its presence before fighting the strongest saint in existence. Natsu could use black flames, that was true, but he had no idea that a second conscience rested inside his mind, "So me using your flames strengthened you?" Natsu asked, although he already knew the answer to his question.

"**Exactly. I allowed you to use my flames because I feared you would die before I even managed to set foot on the human world. And it seemed I made the right choice, especially appearing when you almost died against the strongest saint.**"

The creature grinned devilishly, "**But something always made me curious. How the hell did you believe what that whore said? Was it desperation? Or did you simply not care? You were what, ten when she freed you from the tower she made herself? Were you so emotionally destroyed that you didn't care about the lives of others anymore?**" Noticing that Natsu's eyes darkened and his face fell the Death Dragon's laugh echoed throughout the mindscape once more.

"You could say that." Natsu replied, making the creature stop its insane laughter and listen intently to what its vessel had to say, "After Igneel died… I had nothing. The same person that killed him took me to the tower where I was tortured and made me believe that I would die any second if I did something wrong." He scratched at his wrists as the memories of Anti-Magic chains that were strapped on his arms flew through his eyes, "I was seven when Igneel died and spent three damn years in the Tower of Heaven, as they called it… Heaven my ass."

The dragon focused on what Natsu said and remembered every last thing the pinkette had felt. It wouldn't mention it for its life, but it felt everything that the Slayer had felt; pain, grief, sorrow, longing, and most of all - desperation. And it wasn't any different in age than Natsu was. It saw the world as a comical place; the creature found humans to be evil creatures that did not deserve to live. They tortured one another, made each other's life miserable to the point that suicide was an option. It didn't feel anything when it killed Ayame, nor would it feel anything when it kills another. Humans deserve the worst kind of fate that death could bring.

"It got a bit better once I met Rin and Ayame in there. Would you believe an eight year old son of Satan was trapped in a tower doing manual labor?" Natsu laughed with less humor than he let on, "When we rebelled and almost won, I thought we were going to be free. When that whore, as you put it, appeared and saved us I didn't know what to feel. Too many of our friends had died in that stupid tower and the riot for me to give a damn anymore. I just did what I was told. Just hearing that killing a mere ten people would bring me closer to the one who started this nightmare gave me enough drive to keep on living."

"**And now you found out that the same bitch that gave you that mission is probably in league with the same asshole that killed Igneel, huh.**" Its voice sounded with… pity? Was Natsu imagining things or was the beast truly feeling sorry for him?

"Yeah." Natsu sighed. Of all the people… of all the things to talk to he had to open up to the cause of his frustration. Even if that sounded wrong, to his knowledge, this creature was the only one who truly knew how Natsu felt. It was with him for all his life, after all, "But…" The Dragon quirked an eyebrow at Natsu's sudden change of tone. It sounded… almost happy, "Now I'm supposedly in this 'Order' together with Erza and the others. Maybe life still has something to it."

The chained beast pondered what its vessel had just said. True to every word, Erza, Gray, Lucy, Wendy, Mirajane, Gildarts and the others… he remembered every last name, were definitely not like the humans he was used to seeing. They didn't hold any malice to them, they did what needed to be done to protect their friends and, above all else, they considered each other as family. It was weird, foreign to it. It wasn't used to seeing humans like that. Yes, Rin and Ayame were exceptions, but no one else had been like them.

"And…" Natsu paused, "If you even think of killing them like you did Ayame…"

The creature was statrled from his thoughts when it felt Natsu's aura change and laughed, "**You will what?**" It kept laughing, "**You don't have to worry, at the moment I'm not fit to kill anyone**." It said, motioning towards the chains with its head, "**Although it would be a pity to see you die from someone of that Vanq's caliber. I'm feeling generous today; I'm going to lend you my power, no strings attached, and you will do me a favor and scorch that son of a bitch for that grenade stunt he pulled.**" It said, a grin from ear to ear forming on its shadowy features.

Natsu's eyes visibly widened to the point where they looked like saucers at the proposal. He prided himself at reading people, or evil demonic beasts, in this case, and, besides the grin, he didn't feel any ulterior motives or evil intentions. Was he truly being honest? "How can I trust you after what you did?"

"**You can't. But it beats dying, right? The Etherion is dangerously close to your heart, once it reaches it both of us are dead**." Natsu pondered on what it said. Yeah, the proposal definitely seemed better than dying and if it actually tried taking over he would be able to suppress himself. The chains Ayame had put to restrain him would see to that. And if bad goes to worse… driving his own fist against his heart seemed like a better choice than a replay of what happened with Ayame.

The creature grew tired of its vessel's long train of thought, "**Faster, would you? I'm getting depressed just by looking at you.**"

Natsu looked up at it and almost instantly nodded, making the creature grin again as its eyes glowed, "**By the way, stop calling me 'Death Dragon' or whatever the hell you've been calling me. It's annoying to be referred as a damn lizard with wings. The name's Reaver.**" Natsu heard it, now known as Reaver, say before he was engulfed in a dark flame.

* * *

The battlefield was eerily quiet. Besides the sound of the few clangs that littered it, it was silent. Silent to the point where one would think someone had died, but that wasn't the case. Both sword wielding mages observed each other's movements and reacted, attacked or defended accordingly. By this point the Vanq had several bruises along his whole body, his left sleeve had been completely ripped off and a nasty cut was visible going from his shoulder towards his forearm. His mask was slightly cracked and his blue trench coat tinted in a distinctive red shade. Blood.

Erza had seriously gone all out.

The Scarlet knight was in her Heaven's Wheel armor. Its left wing had been shattered, her skirt cracked at a few points and she had some nasty cut marks on her hands and legs, but nothing too serious. Many of her weapons littered the roof of the building they were fighting on, a result of her summoning her swords to use her armor's ability to its fullest, but due to that fact she had lost a great deal of magical energy while the other swordsman seemed to be ready for another fight.

Erza was about to charge again when the ground started to shake and she momentarily lost balance. Her glance instantly shot to where Natsu was and, to her surprise and horror, an explosion of black flames almost destroyed the building the pinkette was previously lying on. A black pillar of flames shot towards the sky, creating a massive hole in the clouds and a small tornado made itself known above them.

Natsu's body started to slowly rise against the pillar of black flames. His body ascended and he was levitating slightly above solid ground. His eyes suddenly started glowing a bright red color, his canine teeth became sharper and his hair grew out slightly, becoming wilder and spikier. His skin healed almost instantly, the flames that sprouted from his body seemed to have a defensive mechanism of sorts and blue particles of Etherion that were left in his system shot out of his body in a matter of seconds. In a few moments his skin was completely healed and he was able to stand again.

As the flames dissipated and Natsu landed on the roof he roared to the skies. He didn't know why he did that, he just felt that it was weirdly appropriate. The now black flame-clad Slayer glanced at his arms and felt the flames swirling around his body. They weren't evil nor were they of ill intentions. He could even feel what Reaver felt but he still couldn't understand it. It was a mixture of pity, disgust, anger and most of all – sympathy.

A thought crossed Natsu's mind. Maybe, just maybe, Reaver wasn't as bad as he made himself out to be. Natsu suspected that Reaver had felt the same things he had when he was in the tower and that must have twisted him in ways thought impossible. Even though those thoughts went through his head, the notion that Reaver had killed Ayame was too much for Natsu to believe in a chance of his darker self actually being good.

He crunched his fist and felt the black flames expand around his body and heat up the air around him. It felt good. Compared to the last time he used it he felt free, he didn't feel any mental strain and he felt stronger than ever. This time he could win. This time he could protect his friends without worrying about going berserk.

Red, slit eyes glanced to where the two sword wielding mages were fighting.

He saw a blue trench coat.

'_Payback time._'

* * *

**As per Roxas.97's suggestion, I've changed Shade's name to 'Reaver.' It honestly sounds better than what I made his name to be, haha!**

**That got your attention, didn't it? I hadn't planned on making Natsu and 'Reaver' work together so early, but hell, it felt appropriate. What do you think? And do****n't forget to review! I know you want to!**

**I saw that xchrispx510 wanted to make his story THE Naza story, as he put it. I admire his goal... but let's give him some healthy competition, shall we? *grins***


	12. Demonic Annoyances

**Devils Never Cry, damn it! Youtube it!**

**A huge thanks to _Roxas.97_ for beta-ing this!**

* * *

_**Chapter 12: Demonic Annoyances  
**_

* * *

Natsu stared down on the two mages standing below him on a separate building. He seemed lost in thought; even with this new power he gained he had to be careful. He couldn't get cocky a second time for the events that happened last time to repeat themselves. Even if he did greatly overpower the Vanq he needed to think things through as he fought. This couldn't be just a simple beat down.

Noticing the stare Erza gave him he sighed and launched himself from the building, landing right beside her. His confident red eyes glanced at her worried brown ones and could feel the fear building up in her heart.

"Natsu..?" She muttered so quiet that even his enhanced hearing had trouble picking it up. Sensing her fear he flashed a bright smile her way in hopes that it would relieve her worries. It did, in all honestly, relieve her just a tiny bit, but knowing what happened before she needed to be careful. Or, to be exact, she needed _him _to be careful, "Are you…?"

"I'm fine." He stated, taking a few steps forward, "I'll explain later. Now stand back, I got this." Natsu said; his eyes locked on his heavily breathing opponent.

"So you finally show your true colors, Demon." The trench coated man growled.

Natsu laughed, "I don't know if it's a Demon that's inside of me, but what's the point of weeping over something I have little control of?" He smirked towards the Vanq, "I've come to terms with what's inside me and what I am. I don't like it, hell, I hate it, but that's just who I am and I have to live with it!"

The Slayer raised his hand and a small black flame sprouted on his palm, "I didn't choose to be born with Reaver inside of me nor did I want his power running through me. That's life. And I think it's high time I stopped letting it bite me in the ass." He said as he slipped into a combat stance, the flame from his palm expanding throughout both of his hands, creating a both offensive and defensive coat.

The Vanq readied himself for battle as well and kept his eyes on the Slayer. What he saw surprised him. Natsu was standing in his defensive stance, red eyes locked on him and a confident smile formed on his face. But what surprised the Vanq wasn't that; a transparent, darker image of the Slayer was standing behind him. Grey skin, black hair, red-black slit eyes and a mad grin with extremely sharp teeth directed at him. Both of their eyes had the same look in them; confidence and trust. The Vanq had heard what happened between him and his demon side and couldn't believe that they were actually working together, "You've steeped to a new low, Dragon-Slayer."

Natsu hummed, "Maybe. But let's just see how that new low helps me kick your ass, shall we?" He said and disappeared from view, completely shocking both the Vanq and Erza.

The Scarlet Knight had, literally, lost sight of the Slayer once he made his move. She couldn't believe that he was using his darker flames, add to the fact that he was smiling and seemed completely okay. She focused on her surroundings and noticed small traces of black flames scattered around the place. She deduced that he was outputting flames from his feet to increase his speed and her guess was correct when she managed to catch a glimpse of Natsu when he circled the Vanq again.

The Vanq had trouble seeing the Slayer, but managed to catch the same glimpse Erza had and swiped his sword where he thought the Slayer would be. He was taken aback when he realized that he had attacked nothing but air.

"Right here." A whisper sounded from behind the Vanq and he instantly turned around, slashing air again. Then, out of nowhere, an uppercut to his chin sent the blue-clad man flying backwards, the bottom half of his mask shattered to reveal his mouth and nose.

As the Vanq fell on the ground Natsu cracked his knuckles, "If I remember correctly, to a Vanq, revealing their identity is one of the biggest crimes they could commit amongst themselves, right?" He asked more to himself than anyone else and his eyes locked on the Vanq again, the smile never leaving his features, "I think it's only fair I know who you are after that grenade."

Natsu leaped forward as the swordsman stood up. He kept charging, despite him raising his sword to use a move that Natsu had already been caught in. A blue sphere formed around the Slayer and his movements were slowed again. The Vanq took another grenade from his pocket and stared at it for a second, '_Last one, better make it count._' He thought and pulled the pin before throwing it into the sphere.

As the grenade punctured the sphere Natsu's face visibly fell into a scowl. To the Vanq's immense shock the Slayer's movements returned to normal while he was still in the sphere. He grabbed the grenade with his bare hand and put his finger over where the pin was to hold pressure on the grenade to keep it from exploding. Natsu then output a large amount of flames, making the sphere crack and eventually shatter under the pressure of his magical power.

He landed on his feet and glared at the Vanq, "Fool me once: congrats. Try fooling me twice and I'll scorch your ass." He growled and crushed the metallic grenade with his palm; the blue Etherion goo seeped out of the crushed object and burned Natsu's hand, but the Slayer didn't even wince. He ignited his fist with black flames and the Etherion particles shot out of the appendage once again.

The Vanq stared in shock of what just happened. Before when he was caught in his magic he could barely even move his eyes; now he didn't just destroy his sphere but he smashed the grenade like it was nothing and negated the effects of Etherion like it was an annoying zit. Before he could register what happened, two bare feet met with his face, effectively completely destroying his mask and sending him crashing against another building.

Natsu followed the Vanq to the other building and as he entered a few shockwaves emerged from the building, black flames spewed from each side of the big skyscraper and the Vanq came crashing out of the building and on the same roof he was previously on. Natsu almost instantly appeared in front of the swordsman and lifted him up by his collar and glared at him with his red reptilian eyes.

"Natsu! Wait!" The Slayer heard Erza's voice and glanced to her side. He noticed that her eyes were wide open as she stared at the man held by his grasp, "…Craven? What are you?"

The Vanq laughed while coughing up blood, "Too bad, I was hoping to keep me leaving a secret until I killed this demon." His glare intensified towards the Slayer who held him.

"Killed..?" Erza paused, "What about Gazz? What about your brother?!" She screamed.

"Gazz?" He laughed again, "He's more than old enough to fend for himself, isn't that why the Order took him in?" Craven said, his glance never leaving the red eyes of Natsu, "I only promised to look after him until he was ready to become the heir of the Weller family."

Natsu quirked an eyebrow at this, '_The Weller family? Where have I…_'

Suddenly, strange symbols etched themselves around the Vanq's body and a blue aura started to make itself known around him. The air around them became heavy as Craven's blue eyes started to glow a bright red.

A loud roar echoed inside of Natsu's mind, "**Get away from him! NOW!**" Reaver screamed and Natsu instinctively let Craven go and jumped a few feet back.

"What is..?" The words died in Natsu's mouth as the Vanq's body was devoured by the same blue aura. The ground around them started to shake slightly as a small shockwave erupted from Craven; the blue aura was pushed away by the shockwave to reveal that Craven had taken a different appearance. His coat became scaly, his katana's sheathe was merged with his left sleeve, he grew horns on his head and his face had changed completely. It became scaly, his eyes changed to pointy red ones and sharp teeth replaced his normal ones. The blue aura around him changed to a dark, purple one and surrounded him; creating a defensive coat and making him look even more dangerous.

"Let's end this, Slayer." Craven's voice sounded different, hollow, and demonic. Now Natsu understood.

Natsu laughed humorlessly, "Well isn't this ironic. The one who hates demons and has sworn to kill them is one himself."

"Silence!" He shouted; a small shockwave erupted from his voice alone. He unsheathed his sword from his left sleeve and charged at Natsu. He was fast, so much so that Natsu had problems seeing him.

Using his flames he was barely able to avoid a stab to his chest by sidestepping. Natsu's eyes almost bulged out from their sockets when the now demonic Vanq crouched and backhanded him in the stomach, sending Natsu tumbling to the side.

Erza stared in shock at the events that were unfolding. Craven, the man that went to Fairy High when she was a first year, the man that was her tutor in the Order, had betrayed not only her but the Order as well, was fighting Natsu while saying that he was a Vanquisher. What had happened to him? And what will happen to his younger brother Gazz once he finds out? These questions gnawed at her as she watched Natsu send flames from his mouth towards the Vanq which the latter easily dodged.

'_Shit, this isn't good. Even in this form I can't keep Reaver._'

'**I know. I'll give you more of my power but be careful. I've only been giving you a fourth of it and if it exceeds half, your body won't be able to handle it.**'

'_Got it._'

Natsu stomped his foot down and roared as more black flames materialized around him and engulfed his whole body. Black scales formed around his face, arms and legs. He could feel Reaver tapping into his Dragon Force as Natsu gained power. He deduced that it must have been the same as activating Dragon Force via eating a strong flame source and gaining immense power since that was the requirement for obtaining the ability. He kicked off from the ground and with increased speed smashed a flaming fist at the demon turned Vanq.

"**_Kokuenryū no Tekken! (Black-Flame Dragon's Iron Fist)_**" He shouted and launched his fist forward. The Vanq blocked with the broad side of his sword and the forces collided, creating a shockwave and a crater below them. Dust spewed everywhere around them as more explosions littered their surroundings. Both Natsu and Craven shot backwards in different directions, both slightly panting. In that split moment that the dust rose they were able to damage each other, both launching over five attacks in the span of a second.

Natsu was about to charge again when a voice boomed in his head, '**Hold up.**' Reaver spoke.

'_What is it?_'

'**Check for yourself.**' He said and Natsu could feel a change in his eyes. The whites in his eyes became black and his eyes became sharper. He gained Reaver's sight as everything in his eyesight changed. It became slightly darker and he could see magical particles floating in the air, he could even see the imprints left on the buildings by the attacks Erza and Craven used when they fought before. He glanced at the man and what he saw slightly made his eyes widen. He could see his body to the point where his _bones _had seemed to _glow _in his body. But that wasn't all, what really surprised him was the fact that he could see the flesh Natsu burned off regenerate itself.

'_What the hell?_'

'**It's his regenerative ability. It is on par with the one I'm currently giving you.**'

'_So how am I supposed to beat him if he regenerates three seconds after I damage him?_'

'**Constant attacks; it might be a strain on your body but you need to keep the fight up without letting that asshole rest. I know for a fact that his magic doesn't regenerate like yours does.**'

'**Careful though, his power is almost equal to a weaker Demon Lord.**' Reaver added.

Natsu snorted at the last comment and could feel Reaver grinning. Weaker Demon Lord still meant _strong as fuck _in his dictionary. The Slayer couldn't help but feel excited; he felt relieved that he could finally go all out. Recent battles had him restrained by either a seal, having to suppress his magical power or by Reaver trying to get out. Now though, nothing held him back and he could fight to enjoy, although he did have to mind his surroundings.

Without waiting for Craven, Natsu charged headfirst and ignited his fists on fire. He slammed another attack at the Vanq which he blocked with his sword. The Vanq took a small step back to create a gap between them and swiped with his sword.

Natsu disappeared with his enhanced speed and appeared above his enemy; both of his hands rising above him as he created a large flaming ball between them, "**_Kokuenryū no Kōen! (Black-Flame Dragon's Brilliant Flame)_**" He shouted and slammed the destructive attack point blank at the Vanq.

Natsu hovered in the air and watched the ball of black flame reign chaos to the Vanq that took the blast face first. He grinned as his new eyesight allowed seeing through magic and noticing Craven's movements. He slashed his sword and a gust of magic-imbued wind cut the flames in half and proceeded towards Natsu.

The Slayer twisted his body to the side and was able to dodge the attack. He propelled himself downwards by blasting magical power from his hands and landed on the ground. Upon landing he channeled flames in his feet and momentarily disappeared, appearing near the Vanq and slammed his fist against his face. As the swordsman was still injured from the previous attack he was unable to block this one either.

Natsu watched the Vanq and cursed when his eyesight picked up his healing wounds. His eyes widened when he disappeared and multiple blue spheres started heading his way. Channeling more magic into his feet Natsu dodged it by dashing to the side but was taken by surprise when another sphere materialized behind him and forced him to dodge again. The process repeated itself continuously and Natsu had to jump to the air to stay safe because the whole roof was covered in blue spheres. Again, Natsu was taken by surprise when the blue spheres showed themselves even in the air and that caused Natsu to channel magic into his arms to be able to dodge airborne.

He noticed as every once in a while the blue spheres would be cut apart and dissolve into nothingness, '_They must be on a timer or set to destroy themselves once they catch their enemy_.' Natsu deduced and bit his lip; these things were fast. The spheres Craven used before transforming were nothing like these. Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by these spheres and cursed for being so inattentive.

The spheres were rapidly closing in on him and Natsu only had one way left to survive. He scanned the battlefield, '_Where the hell is he?!_' He growled before noticing the man standing on a different building using Reaver's eyesight. As fast as he could the Slayer channeled magical power into his mouth before screaming,"**_Kokuenryū no Hōkō! (Black-Flame Dragon's Roar)_**" and sending a wide and large blast of black flames thundering towards the Vanq, incinerating every sphere it touched.

Natsu managed to aim the attack so it didn't damage the building but would make the swordsman lose his focus and release his magic. Natsu was surprised yet again to see that the spheres kept moving even though Craven didn't channel them, '_Shit, so he isn't controlling them?!_' The blue balls kept closing in on him but Natsu noticed an escape route. He channeled more magic into his feet and blasted himself towards the side where his Dragon's Roar went and incinerated the Vanq's spheres.

He landed where the Vanq had been standing and turned around to see all the small spheres connect and form one large ball. Natsu watched as the Vanq appeared near it and placed his hand on the circular object. Its color changed from blue to blood red and it shrank until it was the size of a tennis ball. The Vanq held it in his hand and glanced towards the Slayer, "**_Jikan no Borē (Volley of Time)_**" He announced and threw the small ball towards him. It moved fast and multiplied by almost a hundred. Surprising the Dragon-Slayer, the small balls formed into long and sharp needles and headed his way.

Natsu thought fast and slammed the ground with his foot, raising a block of the building's roof to act as a wall between him and the attack. He was surprised to see one of the needles instantly pierce the wall and go through it, which was enough of an incentive for Natsu to dodge to the side. He watched as the needles rapidly pierced through the stone and isolated the bits and pieces it took with it, effectively slowing time for the objects.

"I'm impressed by your speed, Demon." The Vanq appeared near him and glared at the Slayer with his pointy glowing eyes, "If one of those needles had pierced your body it would have slowed time for that certain spot. Imagine what would happen if an artery got hit."

Natsu snorted, "Well ain't it awesome that I dodged then?"

'The Vanq is tired from using his Demon form, go for the kill now.' Reaver's voice echoed in Natsu's mind. True to every word, Craven wasn't as strong as he was when he had transformed. Beads of sweat littered his body as his breathing became heavier and his aura less visible. That form must not have been easy to maintain.

'_Too bad I'm in no better shape._' Natsu replied. He was exhausted as well since he wasn't used to using Reaver's power and the strain of it had affected his body, '_I'll finish it with this._' Natsu declared and slipped into a battle stance once again, "It's time we end this, Vanq."

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with a Demon." He replied and got ready to attack as well.

Both Slayer and Vanquisher charged at one another; the Vanq swiped with his sword to the side and Natsu was barely able to dodge by crouching. He kicked one of the Vanq's feet and made him lose balance momentarily, '_That's it!_' Natsu beamed with anticipation.

"**_Metsuryū Ōgi (Dragon Slayer's Secret Art)_**" He announced while igniting both of his fist on fire. Craven's eyes widened as he noticed the power behind the flames while he tried to regain his posture. Natsu cocked back a fist and shouted, "**_Guren: Kokuenryū Ken! (Crimson Lotus: Black-Flame Dragon's Fist)_**" And smashed his fist against Craven's chest. After a millisecond another fist hit his body, then another and another. His attack kept hitting the Vanquisher in quick succession, every blow causing a small explosion and damaging his body, almost breaking his bones. Natsu roared as he kept increasing his power and speed, hammering the swordsman with every ounce of power he had left. The process itself looked like a machine gun with an infinite clip was being fired.

Erza watched in awe as the many attacks Natsu sent all collided with Craven. She had trouble seeing the attacks because of their speed, let alone count them, but she was sure that the hits would amount to nearly a hundred in total. Natsu roared as he kept battering the Vanquisher, his direct hits causing small shockwaves, cracking the ground below them and causing strong gusts of wind to escape the area.

Eventually the Vanquisher unwillingly released his Demon form and Natsu instantly reacted; his eyes narrowed as he stopped his ferocious attack. The flames that had spread over his whole body collected and focused into his right fist as he disappeared from sight and appeared slightly above the Vanq. With a battle cry he slammed his fist down, causing Craven's body to smash against the building's roof and go through it at an angle that sent him through the building's side and onto another building where his landing created a crater on its roof.

Natsu leaned forward and supported himself with his hands on his knees and started to pant heavily. Sweat showered his whole body as he tried to catch his breath. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his red eyes to the side.

"Are you alright?" Erza asked, concern written on her face as she stared worriedly into his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He smiled, his breathing stabilizing itself, "That move took a lot out of me and my body's not quite used to this power yet." He said and glanced towards where Craven had landed, "Come on, I believe he's still conscious." He said and stepped forward.

The redhead watched as Natsu leaped from one building to another and sighed; once again the Slayer had gone overboard. She glanced around where they were and sweat dropped when she saw the buildings catching fire and the smoke coming from them. How the hell was master going to pay for all of this? That thought crossed her mind as she followed the pinkette and jumped down to where Craven was beaten.

Erza did feel worried for her ex-tutor yet she couldn't forgive him for attacking one of her friends. She didn't want Natsu to hurt him but when she saw Craven's transformation she realized just how much he had fallen. The first thing she would do after bringing him into the order would be to interrogate him and make him reveal the Vanquisher's hideout and have a _nice_,_long chat _with them.

She landed near Natsu and glanced towards where Natsu's gaze was locked; Craven was still breathing and struggling to move. He tried standing up but his legs wouldn't listen to him and held him grounded, "Damn it…" He cursed, his voice was coarse and breathing heavy, "I can't believe I lost to a Demon."

"Sorry to disappoint, but I ain't no Demon, nor is the thing inside me." Natsu sighed.

"Then tell me, Dragneel, what is it that gave you all this power?" He asked, his eyes glancing weakly at the man standing before him.

"Hell if I know." Natsu admitted, "I only know his name and that he's an asshole."

Erza couldn't help but smirk at the words. Had he confronted the thing inside him and won? She would have to ask him later after they were done with Craven. Speaking of dealing with him, "What happened to you, Craven?" She asked; her brown eyes locked on his weak blue ones.

He coughed and laughed humorlessly, "Demons, that's what happened." He said, "After my last year in Fairy High I received a mission from the Order to escort a caravan of supplies sent from Crocus to Duneburgh in Midi on foot accompanied with three other mages from Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus."

"On foot? Isn't Midi on the other side of the planet?" Natsu asked, curiosity slipping to high levels just to find out the reasoning behind this task. He would have to later ask about the Order and its mission giving system. Maybe he wouldn't have to travel by transportation anymore.

"It was because of the thing the caravan had been transporting. They didn't tell us about the sensitivity of the item. If they had we would have taken a lot more mages with us." Craven's expression turned into a frown, sadness overtook his features as memories seeped into his mind.

"What was it?" Both mages asked in unison, making the Vanq look up at them with serious eyes.

"A key. A key to Lilith's cage." As he said those words Natsu's eyes grew wide in shock.

Erza noticed both men's expression and couldn't help but ask, "Who is this 'Lilith?'"

Craven frowned and as he was about to answer the words died in his mouth. Instead, Natsu decided to tell her, "The son of Satan's my friend so I'm pretty sure I know who she is." He frowned, "The _Demon Queen_, right?"

It took a few moments for the words to register in Erza's mind, but after they did, her face paled as her eyes grew wide, "Correct." Craven nodded, "And we were supposed to escort it to a place for safe keeping since it was almost taken by Lucifer's spawn."

Natsu glanced at Erza and felt the need to explain, "Apparently Lilith is something like a lover towards Lucifer. She was locked up by humans a couple of thousands of years ago and the key was lost. When it was found it was the duty of the Council to keep it safe and a secret but Hell got word of it and the big guy literally jumped at the chance of setting her free."

"Secrets never do remain as only secrets." The Vanquisher mumbled, "The caravan was a secret as well, but we had a traitor in our midst that sold us out to the Demons." He said with a sigh, "We were ambushed by the filth in Ministrel near the border to Midi." He paused, "It was a slaughter. We were completely unprepared and most of the people in the caravan died in the blink of an eye. The other mages and I managed to fend the Demons away, but…"

"Lemme guess, one of the higher ups of Hell showed up." Natsu said, interrupting him.

"Yes, Astaroth." He replied hesitantly, "Everyone around me died as the Demon laughed while mutilating them. I was the last one to survive but my days would have ended as well if not for the appearance of the Brotherhood I now serve."

"What happened?" Erza asked, still baffled by what she was hearing.

"They were many in numbers and had the advantage since we managed to kill most of the weaker spawn. The Vanquishers overpowered Astaroth with numbers and by using anti-demon magic. They banished him from Earthland and sent him to rot back in Hell." Craven recollected; a small smile of pure gratitude showed itself on his lips at the memory.

"That still doesn't explain why you joined them or how you're able to transform into a Demon." Natsu spoke.

"That, Dragneel, is none of your concern." He said; a confident smile on his face as he glanced at the pinkette. Before either Erza or Natsu could realize what happened a small portal opened up above them and three people jumped out of it, all of them wearing a Vanq's mask. One made his way to attack Natsu and the other attacked Erza while the third person tended to Craven.

Natsu barely dodged the incoming sword attack and opened up with a punch that the Vanq had blocked and a tug of war ensued itself between the two. Natsu quickly glanced to the side to see that the same had happened with Erza, '_They're only here to buy time. Shit, the guy's going to get away._' He thought and frowned.

"Back-up, eh? I always knew you Vanqs were cowards." Natsu mocked, trying to anger the Vanq to find an opening and attack.

"You're one to talk, Demon." The Vanq replied as he motioned to the side with his head, "It seems your reinforcements are coming as well. I'm surprised to see how you have manipulated so many humans to aid you." Natsu growled at the words. He focused to where the Vanq had pointed and he felt it. Three familiar magical traces. Gray, Lucy and Mira, '_Well they're taking their sweet time. If these guys decide to fight I don't think either of us could hold out long in the state that we're in_.' Natsu deduced after seeing what a hard time Erza was having in holding her own against her enemy.

He noticed the third person help Craven up as they started to walk towards the portal, "Hey, Craven, lemme ask you one last question." Natsu said, catching the attention of the two Vanqs, "Where's the key now?"

"Like we'd ever tell a demon!" The Vanq who held Natsu at bay snapped, some magical power leaking out of his body but nothing that would harm the Slayer.

The pinkette smirked, "Okay, then let me rephrase that. Is it _safe_?"

He could see that Craven had a smirk on his face as well, "_Untouchable_." He said before the two Vanqs that were occupying Erza and Natsu recoiled back to Craven and threw smoke bombs in their wake, temporarily obscuring the Fairy High wizard's field of view.

After the smoke had dissipated Natsu looked around and saw no one but Erza looking as stumped as he was. He cursed himself for letting them pull such a fast one on him.

Noticing that Gray and the others were close he released his magic and his Black-Flame Dragon mode had ended. His teeth, hair and eyes turned back to normal and the scales on his body disappeared. Natsu could feel the strain Reaver's power had caused his body and instantly fell to his knees and started to pant. He was surprised how well the black flames held his body together.

He glanced toward the Scarlet Knight's direction and saw that she was in a similar state. She was fighting to stand just as much as he was.

Vanquishers. The key to Lilith's cage. Reaver actually helping for once and almost dying… thrice. '_Now ain't that one hell of a way to join a mysterious order._' Natsu sighed inwardly. If this was just the beginning he was wondering what awaited him in the future.

'_I don't have a place to stay and I'm only in my pants that are almost burned to a crisp. Life's grand._'

* * *

**Yay! Shedauwz updated! Honestly, that took less time than I thought it would and I had loads of fun with it.**

**Now I'm taking a break. Two chapters in what, three days? I've ignored my laziness quite enough, time to do nothing!**


	13. Dad's Note

_Sorry for the wait!_

_You know, I had a poll up that asked whether or not you guys wanted to see Rin's side of the story in here... and I took it down in about five minutes. Why? *laughs* Because I'll do it anyway!_

_A huge thanks to **Roxas.97** for beta-reading this and helping me write a few sections!_

_...I'll change my AN's to italic. Why? Because it looks prettier. Call me weird._

* * *

_**Chapter 13: Dad's note  
**_

* * *

An explosion of blue flames rocked a castle-like building in the middle of a dark forest. The blue flames illuminated the sky in a bright hue before it faded and another explosion erupted, continuing the cycle of destruction and beauty. A dark-purple pillar erected from the castle before it was brutally cut down by the same blue flames, destroying and devouring it like a predator hunting its prey.

"_**Akuma no Haretsu! (Demon's Rupture)**_" A dark-blue haired teen shouted as the flames surrounding his body focused into his left hand, coating it in flames before he slammed the appendage on the floor of the castle. The flames instantly oozed into the cracks he made, expanding them and causing multiple pillars of destruction to emerge from the ever expanding holes, scorching everyone and everything it caught in its deathtrap.

Suddenly, the teen heard growling from behind him and turned around only to barely block an incoming swipe from a clawed hand. His bright blue eyes glared at his enemy who appeared to be surrounded by a dark-purple aura, his humanoid face twisted and cut up. His eyes had become black as the purple magic oozed from his eyes almost like tears of immense pain and agony. He was taken by surprise when many of the same looking enemies surrounded him and lunged directly at him, their claws at the ready to kill him upon contact.

Biting his lip, the teen focused on his still active _**Demon's Rupture **_and made it cease its brutal onslaught. Focusing it on himself, he made the flames retract and, when the dark mages attacking him were close enough, he made a large pillar of blue flames erupt from below him, annihilating every person that dared to be in range.

Screams of agony reverberated through the structure before the bodies of his attackers fell to the ground while being slowly incinerated by fire. The teen looked around and sighed; another merchant guild had to be completely destroyed because of demonic influence. He glared at one of the many bodies littering the floor and inspected it. After the demonic purple magic dissipated from their bodies, their eyes were seemingly missing while tears of blood rolled through their cheeks. The claws that erected from their hands weren't natural or caused by take-over magic. They were the side effect of demon magic running through their veins.

He heard footsteps and turned around only for blood to splatter against his face as the body of another was cut in half. The two halves of the mage's body fell down as Rin glanced towards where a pink-haired woman kicked one of the mages' heads and sent him flying through three walls while she slashed open another's insides.

The woman glanced at him and smirked while he was busy wiping away the foreign blood from his face, "Keep your guard up, Rin." Ikaruga instructed before sending a blast of wind from her sword towards where her attacker had flown when she kicked him in the face. A cry of pain was heard when the attack passed through the walls like a knife through butter.

Rin stared at her as she walked towards him and, on the way, stomped one of the still alive mage's head in. He sighed; was he really such an influence on people? During the four days they had been travelling together she had changed immensely. The way she fought, even though she trained in the art of demon-slaying, had changed dramatically. She became faster, stronger and, above all, ruthless. Besides that, her clothes had changed. The kimono Ikaruga used to wear was replaced with a black, long-sleeved jacket that ended near her stomach, just below her breast, with a red blouse underneath which showed a decent amount of cleavage, (Rin actually had a debate with himself whether the kimono she wore or the current outfit showed more) red jeans held loosely by a brown belt that showed some of her hips and black high-heeled boots that went towards the middle of her shin.

He'd be lying if he said she wasn't looking smoking hot.

Her pink hair was cut shorter because of Rin's insistence. He managed to convince her that hair that long might become a burden in battle and she, albeit unwillingly, cut it down. The current length of her hair went to her shoulders, it was spiky at the back of her head while two bangs framed her delicate face and one bang covered some of her left eye.

Rin actually thought that she would attract enemies like a damned magnet dressed like that. Not that he was complaining; it was, most definitely, an alluring sight.

She sighed and stretched her muscles before releasing the demon-slaying spell that Rin had taught her which let her control wind, "This is exhausting." She yawned.

Exhausting? Rin almost rolled his eyes. When he was learning the _**Devil's Dance **_it took him three whole months to master the thing, even then he had problems containing it. And Ikaruga? She learned it in the first two days since they started training. Even if she still had problems controlling it, she was heaps ahead of Rin in the learning department.

"Don't complain, you can't even imagine the time I had learning this shit." He groaned, making her chuckle.

"Guess I'm just talented." She stuck out her tongue, almost making Rin growl at her, "That reminds me, why weren't you using the techniques I taught you?"

Rin had to suppress a facepalm. Did she really think he could learn all of what she taught him in the span of four fucking days? Of course not. He had problems learning what she taught him. Firstly, the swipes of the sword were meant to be delicate, precise and still destructive. Rin never used delicacy with swords. The only steps he followed were as follows: ignite, swing, and destroy. And all of this she was teaching him just wasn't getting through, "Do you really need me to say it?" He finally spoke.

Ikaruga sighed while she leaned on him for support; it seems using the _**Devil's Dance **_had exhausted her more than she let on, "You know, you could, at the very least, try?" she said before blowing away a stray strand of her hair.

Rin sighed, "You know what, when we get back I'll try, okay?" He said and she nodded in response, "But still, you're handling yourself pretty well with what I taught you." He said as he looked around at the many slash marks on the walls caused by her attacks. When she fought she would only use the abilities he taught her. She insisted that using those abilities in real battles would hone them more than training ever would. He couldn't help but let his eyes widen at all the dead bodies he saw that were missing a limb or two… or were cut in half. The element that the _**Devil's Dance **_had unlocked for her was wind, one of the most destructive and dangerous elements there were. It could, quite literally, cut through anything. It matched with her fighting style perfectly.

She chuckled, "Was that a compliment?"

"I'll compliment you when you get it down completely." He said, making her pout.

After a moment of silence Rin crouched near one of the dead bodies and poked it in the cheek, "We're late again. What the hell do you think caused this?" he asked and she just shrugged.

"A demon, most likely."

Rin nodded, "That much is obvious, what bugs me is that there's no way to determine which sucker did this. Not to mention that this is the third guild that got attacked during the past three days." He frowned, a spark of guilt flowed through his very being, "I feel as if we're the ones who're killing them."

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around where he saw Ikaruga smiling at him, "Don't blame yourself. You know that they were dead before we even got here." She said and he nodded unwillingly. It was true and he knew it. They were dead when they got here and the tracks of the demon that possessed them had gone cold. That didn't make him feel any less guilty though.

It was his job. As a demon-slayer he was supposed to protect the people. He was supposed to never let something like this happen. He was a damned Exorcist for heaven's sake. He was the last of the Order that used to protect people from demons all those years ago. Just as he remembered who he was, memories of the past seeped into his mind. Memories of how he, Natsu and Ayame discovered his old home…

* * *

_Roughly three years ago..._

Rin carefully pushed open the door to the rundown place and stepped forward. His nose instantly started to itch from the dust and dirt that covered the place. He couldn't help but chuckle when he heard Natsu sneeze. The fifteen-year-old trio entered the house and Rin couldn't help but stare at his surroundings.

Natsu whistled, "Your parents must've been loaded."

Rin nodded, "Seems so." His voice was shaking slightly. Well, he wasn't surprised. This was the first time that he tread inside his own home. He had no idea what would be waiting for him and he was glad that his two friends were there with him.

Noticing that Rin had been staring off to space, Ayame nudged him on the shoulder, "Come on, let's go." She urged him and walked forward with Rin and Natsu following her closely.

The three examined the first floor but found nothing of importance besides a few scattered accounting books which Ayame took with her for future reference and study. They made their way to the second floor, walking carefully lest the weak wooden stairs gave and all three of them fell God knows where.

Upon climbing up, the three noticed a huge hole in the ceiling, "What the hell happened here?" Rin wondered.

"Probably a fight." Natsu deduced and they continued through the long hallway. Ayame glanced through the large hole one more time before sighing and continuing with her friends.

Rin stopped in front of a door and stared at the word etched on it, "Shirō." he read out loud before turning the door knob and opening the door. When he entered he noticed the large king-sized bed and a small table next to it with an empty liquor bottle placed on it. Rin looked around and saw something that reminded him of a study; a small table with a few bookcases near it. He stepped towards it and saw there was an opened book placed on top of the table with a pen in the middle of it. He picked up the small book to read its contents.

Natsu and Ayame entered the room and looked around, "Is this Shirō fellow your father?" Ayame asked while staring at the book in Rin's hands.

"That's what I'm trying to find out." Rin said as he focused on the task at hand while Natsu leaned on one of the four walls and stared at the dark-blue haired teen.

_October 17th, X1394_

_It's getting cold. Winter's around the corner and the place isn't even heated yet. That's what I get for moving into somewhere… 'cozier,' as Kaoru-kun mentioned… Never again._

_The Exorcist Order's been a bitch as well. Giving me missions day after day… not that I don't enjoy killing demons to save people, mind you; it's just that it's getting tiring. Seriously, it's not like I'm the only one capable of killing a damned nest of demons... or three, for that matter!_

_November 22nd, X1394_

_Honestly? I don't know whether to be happy or sad. I've become a Paladin. I know I should take great pride in this title, I do, but giving a title to someone for the things he has done seems so… ridiculous. All one needs for the things he's done to protect the people he cares about is to see the same people live their lives while staying safe and happy. That's what I believe in, at least… All these formalities, it's giving me a headache._

_Whether or not this will turn out as something good… I'll just have to see in the coming days. I wouldn't be surprised if the pope threw a mission to invade hell next… That damned bastard._

Natsu quirked an eyebrow, "What the hell's a pope?"

Rin shook his head, "No idea."

"They were a secret order or something, right?" Ayame spoke and Rin nodded, "Then it's no wonder we don't know what a pope is. Though, it was probably their leader or whatever." Rin nodded and continued through the book. He skimmed through a few of the pages that were either ripped apart, scorched or just plain unreadable. Finally, he found something he could read.

In a way, this paged looked weird. The writing on it… it could almost describe what the author was feeling. Not just the words used, but the way his handwriting differed from the previous entries...

_December 27th, X1394_

_I found something..._unexpected _during a mission in the northern part of Iceberg. It was a trace of magical power, faint at first but the closer I got the more I could discern it was of demonic origin. I was expecting a low level demon that could easily be killed but, to my surprise, it was child._

_I couldn't understand why a newborn child would be alone by itself in a cave in the middle of icy nowhere. Neither could I understand why I was detecting a nearly sickening amount of demonic magic from the child. That was until I saw it. The child had a tail. Then I saw its slit demonic pupils._

_This wasn't an ordinary child. If it would have been a regular newborn demon, it would have had the demonic features of one. All this child __had was__ a demon's pupils and tail. This leads me to believe the child is half human, which would essentially make it a demi-demon. But I couldn't understand why a demon would mate with a human. It was honestly beyond me._

_I approached it, and perhaps it reacted on instinct. I'd never forget it though, those blazing azure flames... It was something you'd only expect to see in hell. For the first time in ages, I felt unmentionable fear. Those were the flames of Satan, which could only mean that this baby is none other than his child. A child of Satan._

_I knew I should kill it. But I couldn't. No matter how much resolve I tried to muster, I failed. Perhaps it was the baby's constant babbling or the drool that covered his chin. Perhaps it was when I approached it again, and it looked up at me with those eyes, I felt something inside me. A feeling of __incomprehensible__ love. I would protect this child and raise him. Only a child of Satan could defeat him, and I would make sure he was ready._

_In a moment of, I don't know, irony, I decided to name the child Rin. It means 'Light Bearer". A demi-demon that will illuminate the world and kill Satan._

Rin read the last section wide-eyed. The man that wrote this diary, Shirō, was his step-father! He couldn't believe it. He had a step-father! A family too, probably, and a place where he could always return to. A place he could call home.

If only he could remember what the hell happened before he was sent to the tower. Everyone that was sent there had their memories erased so they wouldn't know how to use their magic if they had any. A precaution by the cowards that ran the place. Only Natsu managed to keep his memories intact due to the effects of some sort of ancient spell that was cast on him, though Natsu doesn't even know when or who cast it.

He couldn't help but feel his eyes swell, he felt something wet roll down his cheeks and, for the first time in his life, he felt completely lost. He felt as if he had lost everything but, as far as he could remember, the things he had now have been with him for as long as he lived. Looking around the place, he felt a nostalgic feeling he couldn't explain for the life of him. And he couldn't explain another thing. He couldn't explain why his legs went numb and he slumped down on the chair next to the writing table. He felt more tears run down his face before he chuckled humorlessly. '_And devils are supposed to never cry, damn it…_'

The teen sobbed silently with his hand covering his eyes. He felt alone. So miserably alone. He knew that he had his friends with him, but that wasn't the same. He knew he _had _a family, but where were they now? Judging from the condition this house was in, they were either dead or something worse happened. He didn't know if he wanted to find out. He didn't know if he wanted to find out the fate of the man that found him and gave him his name.

"Hey… you alright?" Ayame's sweet voice rang from behind him as he felt her hand squeezing his shoulder. The teen couldn't help but smile. Even if he felt empty on the inside, he knew that he at least had somewhere to go to, someone to be with. He never thought he depended so much on others, but now he realizes that his life revolves around his friends. He turned to Natsu and saw him smiling towards him, his own way of showing that he's there for him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shocked is all." Rin said while wiping the tears away from his face. Fearing that he might break down even more, Rin gave Ayame the book and motioned for her to read it. She nodded and continued where they left off.

"Let's find out what happened." She said and started to read the next entry aloud.

_January 28th, X1395_

_Things are getting hectic. 'Gates' are opening at an alarming rate. The pope has issued that all exorcists be deployed. Even Ex-Wires that haven't completed training are being sent out. We've even made a deal with a devil. We can't trust him._

_The way he acts, his mannerisms, he definitely cannot be trusted. I'm doing everything in my power to keep Rin a secret, but with that _man_ around, I fear I won't be able to._

_I know; Samael is going to be our downfall._

Rin scratched his scalp in thinking, "Why was I a secret?" He mumbled to himself.

Natsu's sigh could be heard from the other end of the room, "They're exorcists and they fight demons. Your dad," After Natsu said that word Rin couldn't help but feel both warmth and a painful sting in his heart. He smiled lightly and continued to listen to his brother-figure, "was a Paladin, which I'm assuming is an extremely high rank, and he was raising none other than Satan's son." He explained, "If the guys at that order would've found out they probably would've killed him on the spot and killed you… or they would've taken you for experimentation. I honestly have no idea."

Rin nodded, finally understanding the reasoning behind his train of thought. But there was still something that bugged him, "Who the hell's Samael?" he asked and turned to Ayame.

The girl frowned and shrugged, "I have no idea. Everything else in here is unreadable." She said and scanned through the many burned and ruined papers littering the contents of the diary. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw a note.

"_Dear Rin_" She silently read the words and instantly handed the piece of paper to Rin, "It's for you." She said, making the boy's eyes go wide.

"Wait… for me? Do you mean…" He was cut off when he noticed the same handwriting that was in the book. It was from his step-dad.

With shaking hands, he unfolded the paper and read the contents aloud.

_Dear Rin,_

_Hey kid, how's it going? It may be stupid of me to call you kid seeing as how you may be an adult by the time you're reading this but shut up. Anyway, I'm most likely dead, but cheer up. Death ain't that bad. Well, it ain't that bad for me seeing as how I'm an exorcist and hopefully in Heaven. Ya never know though do you?_

_Anyway, I suppose I should cut the bullshit and get to the point, huh? You're a demi-demon. Though, I assume you already know this by now. Well, you should at least know by now, seeing as how you've probably already gone through that exploratory phase._

_Eh, I'm getting off track._

_Well, let me go back to the day you were born, or at least, the day I found you. I'm part of an order of Exorcists. We go out through the world and kill demons. I was on a mission and I had just completed it when I felt a strange magical power. I, being the curious bastard I am, decided to see what it was. The closer I got the more I could tell the magic was demonic. I arrived at the source, and ta-da! There you were. Drooling like a cute idiot. I had no clue you were demon until I saw your cute little tail and eyes. Now, you're probably wondering who your real parents are. I don't know who your mother is but I do know your father is Satan._

_How would I know this? Well, considering the fact you almost incinerated me with those blue flames of yours, it wasn't much of a question. I swear, those flames of yours have seriously annoyed me throughout my life. I remember when you set your room on fire accidentally. Also, this book in your hand, when you were little you almost incinerated it, believe it or not._

_Anyway, I had planned on killing you. Yeah, shitty thing to do ain't it? Shut up. I couldn't bring myself to do it. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't. With the way things were back then, your father, Satan, was going to destroy the entire world. I knew, the only one that could kill Satan, would be you. So I took you with me. I decided I would train you to be an exorcist._

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I shouldn't be deciding what I want you to do with your life, and I'm sorry. I can't go into complete detail about the events that transpired, but we pushed Satan back into hell. I'm sorry that I've gotten you caught up in this life. You deserve better than this..._mess_. You should be able to live your life however you want._

_Your father,_

_Shirō Fujimoto_

Rin smiled. He actually smiled. He knew that his step-dad was dead, but, for some reason, he wasn't sad. He wasn't happy either. He didn't know what to feel. He was glad he could 'meet' him, so to speak. Even if he didn't know the man, even if the brain had forgotten, the heart hasn't. He still harbored the feelings for his dad.

Rin found a small photograph near where the letter was. He noticed himself, about six to seven years of age, grinning like an idiot from ear to ear. Next to him was a man with grey hair and a grey beard. Brown eyes looking at the camera behind a pair of glasses.

He took the picture in his hands before smiling again. He felt… nostalgic while staring at that photo. He didn't remember how the man looked before, but at least now he'd have proof that he actually did have a family once. Smiling, he folded the note and put it in his wallet together with the picture of him and his dad, Shirō.

Standing up he saw Natsu and Ayame staring at him expectantly, smiles etched on their faces, "You're going to become an exorcist, aren't you?" The white-haired girl asked, although she already knew the answer to that.

After Rin nodded, Natsu laughed, making Rin look at him curiously, "We're going to be kicking Satan's ass too, huh?" He asked with a smile as he placed his fist forward.

The dark-blue haired teen grinned, "Aye." He said and they bumped fists.

* * *

_Present..._

Rin felt a painful sting in his heart but still couldn't keep himself from smirking. Those were good memories, he couldn't lie, but the thought that his friends wouldn't be able to see him keep his promise was something that didn't stand well with the Demon-Slayer. Sure, there was always Natsu, but the two of them weren't at the best of terms now and it sure as hell didn't look like Rin was going to be asking for Natsu's help any time soon.

And the most painful part; Ayame's death. It still hurt him, very much so. He loved her; he had no doubts about that, and it still pained him greatly to think that he would never have the chance to tell her, much less see her again.

The day when they went to his home was the day they made a silent promise to each other. Natsu promised to help Rin while Rin promised Ayame to recreate the Exorcists, about who he, admittedly, knew nothing about.

Even if circumstances weren't in his favor and things looked grim he was still intending to keep his promise to her. He will recreate the Exorcist order and he will, be it hell or high water, kill Satan. The bastard will regret stepping on human ground to 'mate' with humans.

Clenching his fists at the mere thought of his real 'father', he felt a hand on his shoulder, "You alright?" Ikaruga asked before he glanced at her. He didn't know much about her, but, in the few days they were training together, she and Rin developed a sort of relationship. Not of a romantic kind, mind you, but a bond of trust. In and out of battle Rin had come to trust her with his life and so did she. And, hell, he'd be lying if he said he didn't find her attractive.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just remembered something annoying." He grinned at her direction and stood up while sheathing his sword, "What now?"

She hummed while scratching her scalp, "We should probably get out of here before the Vanqs come, or have you made peace with them during the night?" She chuckled, making the Demon-Slayer scowl. The day before they found another guild that was infested and possessed by demons. They made short work of the ex-trading guild but, right as they were about to leave, many masked figures assaulted them and were definitely aiming to kill him. It was only when Ikaruga intervened that they attacked her as well. Those damned white grinning masks always did annoy him.

"Yeah, right…" he sighed, "Okay, let's go." The teen said before making his way towards the building's exit, Ikaruga observing him curiously before following him.

* * *

"W-wait… what? Mind running that by me again?" Natsu asked as he stared at the person in front of him, dumbfounded by what the old man had just said. He was wearing a white tee under a brown jacket, blue pants and simple black shoes. He was glad as hell that Gray had some clothing to spare for him since, you know, his place had exploded into burning nothingness and he only had pants on him... and even those were scorched to bits.

A bead of sweat ran down his cheek and a faint blush made itself known on his face as he tried to process where his new accommodations resided in.

An equally astounded Erza stood beside him, her eyes locked on the short old man who was staring at them with mild amusement. The bastard was enjoying this.

"Yes, Master, could repeat that again please?" She asked with a slight edge to her voice.

The old man sighed before glancing back at the duo, "Is this really so hard to take in?" he asked as he focused on Natsu, "You don't have a place to stay, and you," he glanced at Erza, "Are the only student in our school who owns a house of her own." He summarized, a small grin plastering itself on his old face, "So… since we don't have any room in the dorms, Natsu will be staying at your home until he makes enough money to buy his own place." Makarov concluded.

Erza's blush deepened, "Ma-master! We are still in school! It's against regulation for boys and girls that aren't related by family to live together!" She protested and Natsu nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, isn't that obvious? You're the principal of the school for God's sake!"

Makarov's face turned into a scowl, although it was obvious that he was faking it, "It is either that or the streets. Take your pick. I don't care either way because you owe us a hefty amount of money for all the destruction you've caused over the past few days." Makarov said and Natsu's face visibly paled while he shivered, "A destroyed train. A forest burned to the ground. Wintermane's hospital and its parking lot received damage as well, not to mention the cars you destroyed. And just now four buildings were almost destroyed as well." The old man concluded. Oh he was having too much fun with this.

Natsu facepalmed, '_That's what I get for being careless, damn it!_' he growled inwardly before glancing at Erza who's expression still seemed embarrassed and… he didn't know how to explain it, women were beyond him. He sighed, "Fine, I guess I'll go find a place to sleep in the park or something…"

"No." He was interrupted when the redhead grabbed his sleeve and pulled at it while her hair covered her eyes and her blush almost made her face blend in with her hair, "You'll catch a cold there. Stay at my place." She said and turned away, making Natsu's eyes beam with gratitude.

"Uhh… thanks?" He said before glaring at the old man for the last time and followed Erza towards the exit.

"Take a day off today." Makarov instructed, "Come by here tomorrow at noon, I'll introduce you with the workings of the Order and have someone give you a tour of the place."

Natsu quirked an eyebrow, "Place?"

Makarov grinned, "You'll see."

The pinkette just shrugged and left the principal's office, Erza nodding to the old man before following the Dragon-Slayer.

Makarov closed his eyes and sighed as a person with orange hair made himself known from the shadows, "Gildarts." Makarov mumbled.

The man couldn't help but chuckle at what he just heard and saw, "Why did you make Natsu stay at her place? You know she's no good around guys that she finds… _interesting_." He asked with a grin.

"That's exactly why." Makarov explained, "Natsu's not the only one who needs help after what had happened. You should know that Erza and the ex-saint Gerard were a… how do youngsters call it these days? A thing?" He sighed, "I can never understand those kids."

Gildarts chuckled, "Yes, that's how they call it. You know, saying that really makes you sound old."

"Shut up." Makarov said and nodded to himself, mentally noting that he was still in the prime of his life, making Gildarts sweatdrop, "In any case, both she and Natsu need rehabilitation and what's better than to have the two live together? Might spice things up a bit in school as well." He said and started laughing.

Gildarts couldn't help but smirk and shook his head. He intended to leave when he remembered something else from the old man's conversation, "You mentioned the damage caused by the kid." Gildarts said and Makarov nodded, "You do realize we'll have to pay for it anyway, right?"

Makarov didn't answer anything. He was silent for a couple of moments before crying out aloud as waterfalls started streaming down his cheeks. Gildarts sweatdropped, '_Typical._'

* * *

_Oh you know you want to keep reading. *laughs* This is going to be fun._

_Now... about the time this story takes place in. It's not our time, just so you know. Since the technology's pretty much advanced beyond the canon capabilities, I've made it the future of the canon time, hence X1394. The present of this story is X1412 for all of you who fail at math... like I do *sweatdrops*_

_Anyway, please leave a review with your thoughts and all that other good stuff!_


	14. A King's Gambit

_**A/N: **Wow, it's been a fairly long time since I updated this. Is it just me or am I saying that waaaaaaaay too often? Meh, I still feel awesome for writing this. Why? Because I'm introducing one hell of a character. You'll see *chuckles*_

_By the way, I've got a poll up on my profile. If you have the time, do vote on it. You know, to quench my curiosity._

* * *

_**Let**** it**** Burn**_

* * *

_**Chapter******__ 14_: A King's Gambit

* * *

Thinking back to the days when he was together with Rin and Ayame, Natsu realized that he had been living with a girl for over ten years – that's more than half his life! But even so, he never felt as awkward as he did now. Simply standing in front of Erza's house made him feel strange, weird, embarrassed to a degree. The house itself was neither large nor small; just a simple normal house near the city center.

He did like it and he couldn't lie. Both the idea of living with her and the place itself. It was pretty nice and suited his taste perfectly, although he wouldn't have any complaints even if it didn't. And living with Erza? He didn't even know why he didn't protest against the idea that much and he didn't dwell on it. Why the hell should he when he couldn't even comprehend what she was thinking? Knowing her though, she was probably embarrassed more than he ever was.

The redhead stepped forward and opened the door to her house. She entered and motioned for Natsu to follow her. He did so, albeit hesitantly. Upon entering, he closed the door behind him. He turned around and saw Erza coughing into her fist before turning to him with a serious expression, "It's not much, but… make yourself at home." She said.

Natsu flinched at her gaze but righted himself and shook his head, "No, this is just fine." He said with a smile while looking around. They were in the main corridor; to their side was the living room with a connected kitchen. The next few rooms were a bathroom and a separate restroom. The second floor was where the bedrooms were located, along with any other rooms the house had.

Natsu took off the shoes that Gray had leant him and followed Erza into the living room. It had a couch and an armchair surrounding a table in front of which was a TV. The pinkette dropped his bag on the couch, thinking it would be his sleeping place and plopped down on it, trying to see how comfy it is, "Cozy. I'll get a good night's sleep on this." He said before looking up at Erza who was watching him with confusion in her eyes.

"No, you'll be sleeping upstairs in the guest room." She informed and Natsu quirked an eyebrow before nodding. Well, it definitely would be better to sleep in a bedroom than in a living room, but he has had worse before so he didn't see why he should complain.

Natsu just shrugged as he stood up and grabbed his bag, waiting for Erza to show him where his bedroom was. She nodded towards him and the two made for the stairs, "You know, I'll have to get some new clothes." Natsu stated while looking at the bag over his shoulder rather… annoyingly?

Erza quirked an eyebrow while looking back at him, "Aren't the clothes Gray leant you sufficient though?" She asked.

The pinkette scowled in her direction, "Hell no they aren't. I'll be damned before I'm made to wear his clothes for more than I have to." He replied, making the redhead roll her eyes.

"Men." She replied while rubbing her eyelids, "Well, fine. We'll go to the marketplace in the morning, before going back to school." She said, making the teen nod in return. They both went upstairs and Erza opened a door on the far side of the second floor's corridor. She entered and Natsu followed. The room was fair in size, with a single queen sized bed, a few closets and a single wooden desk near the room's window.

Natsu quirked an eyebrow when he noticed the abundance of books placed on the desk, "I'm afraid to ask, but what's this?" He asked while pointing at all the literature.

The redhead looked at him as if his question was the most obvious in the world, "Your homework. I've done mine just before leaving. All your books have been burned to a crisp which means that, even if you've done it before, you'll have to do it again." She said, making the pinkette's head drop down in defeat, "I'll lend you my books until you have enough money to buy your own." She added and a noticeable black cloud drifted just above Natsu's head.

An audible sigh was heard from the pinkette as he righted himself and glanced at her tiredly, "Fine." He said before throwing the bag of clothes he leant from Gray onto the bed. He made another mental note to get some clothes tomorrow and return these to the brunette as fast as possible. Obviously because Natsu didn't want Gray to think that he owed him or anything.

He sighed again and went towards the window. The pinkette glanced through it towards the sky which shone a bright orange as the sun was setting before cracking his fingers, "Now, the lessons will only kick back in next week, but you should get ready as soon as possible…" Erza spoke but Natsu lost her when he ignited the tips of his fingers on fire. He was deeply lost in his own thoughts as he examined the flames. Something didn't seem right to him. He extinguished the flames before igniting each and every one of his fingers again in quick succession. The pinkette created a small ball of fire in his palm and watched it intently.

He furrowed his eyebrows before crushing the flame as he balled his hand into a fist, "Something's missing." He muttered.

"Sorry?" Erza asked as she glanced over his shoulder at his palm.

Natsu cringed slightly at the closeness between them before shaking his head, "N-no, it's nothing." He said, waving the matter off as he walked past her towards the bed, "Anyway, what time is it?" The pinkette asked as he stretched and yawned loudly, "I'm getting tired. Today must've gotten to me more than I thought it did."

Erza nodded in agreement, "Yes, today was a hard day…" She said and paused before looking at him with worried eyes, "Are… are you okay?"

The teen quirked a curious eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"That power… the same one that took over you in Wintermane…" She said and noticed the pinkette's expression change.

"The one that made me kill Ayame…" He muttered while looking down, his eyes slightly shadowing his features.

Erza shook her head, "It didn't make you kill her, it did all the killing." She said as she placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder, "You didn't kill her, Natsu. **It **did."

The teen scoffed at her words, "Not it, he did." He said as he looked up at her.

The redhead quirked an inquisitive eyebrow, "He?"

Natsu nodded, "Aye. His name's Reaver." The pinkette muttered, "I had a talk with him during the fight, just before I used his power." He answered the question Erza was silently dying to know, "I don't know what it was, but for the first time in my life… I had a decent conversation with him… slightly decent anyway. He offered his power to help me fight. It wasn't the first time he did, but I mean… this time... this time it was different. I didn't feel any hate, malice in the flames he offered. I didn't need… no, I didn't want to refuse him." He admitted truthfully.

"What about now though?" She asked, noticing the confusion in his eyes.

He grimaced before raising his hand and igniting a flame in his palm, "I don't know, I just don't know. After using his power, I haven't been able to tap into it again. I can't even feel his presence. He just… disappeared."

The redhead watched the flames dancing in Natsu's palm intently before sighing and looking up to him, wanting to ask the question that has been gnawing at her ever since she heard that the black flames actually came from a second being inside the pinkette, "Then… you, Reaver… have you forgiven him for…?" Before she could finish her sentence, Natsu clenched his palm into a fist and a small explosion rocked the area, scattering sparks and small flames across the room. Erza was slightly taken aback by the action; she was even more surprised to see the hate filled eyes Natsu possessed as he seemingly glared at his own fist.

"I haven't." He said darkly, "I may have accepted his power, but it doesn't mean I have forgiven him for what he did." He looked at the redhead, "He killed Ayame, Erza. I will never forgive him for that. Accepting his power means nothing. If I am to come closer to controlling him, I have to accept him. There's no going around that. And besides, if I didn't accept his offer during the battle – I would've died." He said before his eyes softened and he lowered his hand, seemingly extinguishing the small flames that littered the room due to him exhibiting his magical powers.

The red haired girl watched with surprise as Natsu extinguished the flames he scattered. To the best of her knowledge, Dragon Slaying magic was a mixture between caster and fighter types, allowing the Slayers to use both ranged and melee attacks at will. She knew that if a caster type exhibits his magic and makes it leave his body's vicinity it becomes extremely difficult to cancel out. It required a ridiculous amount of control. And Natsu apparently did it with ease. Just how proficient was he at using magic?

She watched as Natsu walked past her and plumped down on the bed, "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get some sleep. It was a hard day and I'm tired as hell." He said, making her nod.

"Just don't forget your homework." Erza reminded him and chuckled at his grimace. The red haired girl walked out of the room and she scowled slightly at the remembrance of his words and the expression he had. At that moment, Natsu looked something similar to a dark mage, although less insane. The hate he must have felt for Reaver… Erza couldn't even comprehend it. Though, due to Makarov's teachings, Erza knew that hate isn't something that should accompany a mage. What should be with you was compassion, understanding and love, not distaste, regret and hate.

Walking down the corridor to her own room, Erza noted something in the back of her mind. She would make Natsu realize that he shouldn't hate Reaver, but accept him. The girl easily understood that this task would probably be one of the hardest ones in her life, but that only encouraged her more.

* * *

Rin sighed tiredly as he and Ikaruga walked down Shirotsume's streets. The city was in the northeastern part of Fiore near the mountains. It was bustling with life; people were walking around, some in couples, some with their families, simply walking around or shopping.

The teen was starting to get annoyed. Again his travelling companion would spend all of their money on 'mission relevant' things. Being a mercenary was hard even without her spending all of his money due to the fact that the rewards for missions didn't give you a lot of cash to spend, but what could he do? Join a guild? That's a big no-no since if they ever found out who he was he'd have the magic council on his ass.

"Oh! This shop looks interesting!" The pink haired woman exclaimed before rushing towards a weapon shop. Why the hell did she need throwing knives, smoke bombs, grenades and the like when they mainly used their swords he would never know.

"Women." Rin groaned with a facepalm as he leaned on the shop's wall. He looked around the city and he still found himself mesmerized by the sight of the many skyscrapers adorning the landscape. He had seen the big city's before in his travels with Natsu and Ayame, yet it never ceased to amaze him to this day. Multiple buildings, fifty or more stories high, were scattered around the city, many smaller structures in between them. Cars drove around them, going up and down the streets as they rushed to their destination; the lampposts placed around the streets just seemed to glow in contrast to the dark skies, illuminating the city together with the many lights that shone from the buildings around him.

Suddenly, something caught Rin's attention, making his eyes widen before he quickly lowered his head so his hood would hide his face. There were four people walking past him, all of them wearing white masks with blood red grins and a single eye. The teen grit his teeth, '_I fucking knew this would happen. I told her we should avoid Shirotsume, but noooo! There were pretty shoes here!_' He growled inwardly, carefully raising his head to glance up at the four as they passed him. He noted that one of them was wearing a blue trench coat and was limping. He also made note of the huge ass katana strapped to his side.

The Vanquishers, or 'Vanqs,' as Natsu used to call them. Rin Okumura was at the top of their hit-list and the reason for that was simple; the Vanquishers were 'slayers of everything that's unholy' and Rin was none other than Satan's son. He knew that the Vanqs had a base in Shirotsume and he had begged Ikaruga to reconsider going here in case they came into contact with the so called peace keepers. A lot of good that did.

Suddenly, the door to the shop opened violently and a fuming pink haired woman stormed out, "All of this junk is just overpriced shit!" She yelled as she slammed the doors shut behind her, making Rin sweatdrop. She turned to him, "Let's go, Rin." She growled out in annoyance before storming off.

Rin facepalmed, "Oh for the love of…" He groaned when he noticed that the four Vanqs he saw earlier were now glaring in their direction with their singular eyes. Rin quickly leaned forward and unsheathed his own sword just in time to block an incoming attack from one of the mask wearing men. A small explosion reverberated through the area from the sheer force of the fighters' weapons clashing, sending a shockwave that instantly shattered the windows of any nearby shops.

Ikaruga tilted her head in confusion as she failed to understand what the heck had just transpired, "W-what…? What did you do now?"

"Look at their masks!" Rin retorted loudly as he pushed his sword forwards and made the Vanquisher step back. The teen got into his fighting stance as blue flames started to slowly collect around his weapon, engulfing the area around his body in a slightly visible blue hue.

The pink haired woman did as she was told and her expression visibly changed into a snarl, "You chose a bad day to pick a fight you shit-for-brains Vanqs!"

Rin sweatdropped at the insult, '_I don't see how you can even say that, miss 'I have to have every shoe in existence!'._' He thought in annoyance, figuring it safer if he didn't say that out loud.

One of the four Vanquishers spared Ikaruga a glance, "We have no quarrel with you, only with the son of Satan." The man said with a tone of finality, making Ikaruga 'tsk' angrily.

"You don't get to ignore me." She said threateningly before drawing her sword from her sheath. Her face darkened as she placed the blade in front of her. A transparent white-ish aura with dark outlines started emanating from the katana and it slowly entangled her body. The white-ish hue engulfed her whole being, making it almost impossible to see her, hiding her features in a sphere of sorts, "_**Oni Taiji Āto: Akuma no Dansu! (Demon-Slaying Art: Devil's Dance)**_" A whisper sounded from the sphere before it shattered into a million different pieces and an almost unchanged Ikaruga stood there, glaring holes at the Vanqs. The only thing that had changed about her was her aura. She gave off this threatening vibe, so much so that even Rin didn't want to mess with her.

Before anyone could realize what had happened, the pink haired woman was already in front of the Vanq that had dared ignore her and thrust her sword forward. The masked man barely managed to raise his blade to block and was sent flying into a building from the impact.

* * *

Rin furrowed his eyebrows before he slightly crouched down. The fingers of his left arm touched the ground as he stretched his right arm backwards and held his sword in a reverse grip behind him. The blue hue that was surrounding his body suddenly flared before thin blue lines started collecting from his body into his sword, engulfing it with its demonic aura. The teen focused on the blue trench coat wearing Vanq and their eyes met for a second. He narrowed his eyes before swinging his sword forward, "_**Doraibu (Drive)!**_" He said and as the sword swiftly went upwards an extremely swift blast of blue fire launched from the blade towards the Vanq. Rin quickly swung his sword downwards and upwards again in quick succession, "_**Ōbādoraibu (Overdrive)!**_" He roared out and two more blasts erupted from his weapon after each swing.

The three blasts were flying at the Vanquisher at rapid speeds and it seemed that the injured man had nowhere left to run. Just before a direct hit could be confirmed, one of the three Vanqs that was with him pushed the blue trench coat wearing man to the side, saving him from Rin's attack. The dark haired teen sweatdropped when he saw that the attack he used continued on its way even if it passed the Vanqs and destroyed a whole parking lot full of cars, '_Yeah, I suck at control, sue me._'

Ikaruga smirked, "Nice going there, Rin. And you tell me I spend a lot!" She called out and grinned when she noticed the teen's glare. Chuckling to herself, the woman refocused on the two that were giving her a headache. The one she had knocked back after her first attack had recovered and almost instantly attacked her. She was initially surprised by his speed, but the machete-like sword he held did little to intimidate her.

The other guy, on the other hand, was a caster type and was annoying her to no end. Just as she clashes with the sword holding Vanq, the other shoots at her a random blast of magic and makes her dodge. All of this transpired in the span of seven seconds and Ikaruga had no doubt that that was their strategy all along.

'_This is going to be annoying._' She thought to herself before lunging at the sword-wielding Vanq and swinging at his side. The guy blocked and, just as she had thought, a red laser-like beam was sent towards her. The pink haired woman managed to block rather easily by ducking, followed by a quick response as she supported her weight with her hands and kicked the swordsman in the face with her heel, effectively shattering his mask to pieces.

The pinkette went into a crouched position before launching herself at the caster Vanq. Dodging multiple red blasts that were sent her way by the Vanq, Ikaruga shot forward with her sword aimed at the Vanquisher's heart. The woman's attack was parried when the now mask-less man blocked her attack. She snarled at his grinning face before the man draw a second identical machete-like sword and swung at her. Her eyes widening, the pink haired woman barely managed to step back to avoid having her neck slashed open.

She jumped back a few feet and glared holes at the now dual-wielding Vanq. Her face darkened when she noticed that a portion of her hair had been cut. The two Vanqs stared curiously at her before her aura flared and a dark white-ish glow engulfed the immediate area around the woman, "I'll give you the advice that your mothers should've given you." She growled as she pointed her sword at the two, "_Never_touch a woman's hair."

Rin watched the two Vanqs as they both slowly stood up. The injured man leaned on the side of a building before the other helped him right himself. He saw as they stared at each other before the healthy one nodded. He furrowed his eyebrows as the Vanquisher turned to him and slowly raised a hand. The teen's eyes widened before he jumped to the side as he felt magical power surge beneath him. Landing a few feet away, he saw a dark pillar of shadows erect from where he was standing earlier, '_A caster type. This is going to be annoying._' He thought inwardly before gripping the handle of his sword.

The teen was forced to dodge multiple shadows sent his way from the ground, courtesy of the Vanq. He grit his teeth in annoyance as he dodged another blast coming from the side of a building he was standing next to. Growling, the teen shot forward, his blade in hand, ready to slash the Vanq open. He had to sidestep multiple pillars erecting from beneath him in rapid succession before he was finally in front of his enemy.

"_**Jigoku no Jikkō! (Hell's Execution)**_" Rin screamed before swinging his blade down, sending a blast of blue flames point blank at his enemy. He watched as the Vanq got hit by the attack and burst into flames without ushering a single sound. The teen's eyes widened when he saw that the only thing he had burned were the Vanquisher's clothes and that the body was nowhere to be seen. Before he could understand what had happened, a black beam sent him barreling to the side, bouncing on the pavement before hitting a random truck that stopped his movement. He groaned loudly before looking up at the blue trench coat wearing man who simply stared at him, no indication that he had moved an inch.

"Where are you looking at?" Rin heard a voice before looking up to the roof of the five story building behind him and he saw a figure of a woman wearing a Vanq's mask. She was a short and slim woman with peach skin and short, black, spiky hair. '_Damn, seeing them when they wear that stupid white cloak… you definitely can't tell the gender of a Vanq._' He thought with a sweatdrop as he noticed what she was wearing. The outfit, to put it bluntly, was quite revealing; it consisted of a red top that was opened wide to reveal her cleavage that was slightly covered by her black and white bra. She wore a pair of tight, red, shorts that had belt loops and in the loops was a black belt with a white buckle paired with a pair of black leggings that were cut off right above her inner thigh and a pair of white boots with red slits on the foot of them. She also had a pair of white gloves and two metallic bracelet type accessories on both of her upper arms, "You're weaker than I thought if that last attack hit you, Satan's brat." She said mockingly, making the teen growl.

The black haired woman slowly raised one of her hands and grasped her mask tightly, "Akula!" A man's shout could be heard reverberating through the streets, catching the attention of both parties to glance at the injured Vanq, "Do not show your identity to that abomination!"

"It is okay, Craven." Akula chuckled as she slowly removed her Vanq's mask and her black eyes glared at Rin threateningly, "It doesn't matter if I show my face to someone who is about to die." The woman added while throwing her mask to the side.

"Die?" Rin grinned as he stood up, "Don't bet on it, Koala."

"It's Akula!" The woman shouted at the teen with a snarl, making him shrug.

"Who cares?" The dark-blue haired teen laughed condescendingly before jumping up towards where Akula stood, his blade in hand, blue flames dancing around its edge. As soon as he was at her level, Rin swung down his sword, intending to slash her to pieces. His eyes widened when his blade went right through her and her form simply disappeared, '_An afterimage?!_'

"Right here." The teen heard a rather sadistic and… seductive sounding voice before he leaned down and noticed her slightly below him. She opened her palm and a pitch black beam of energy flared in her palm before shooting directly towards him. He barely had time to eject some flames from his elbows to send him flying backwards, effectively dodging the attack. He increased the output of flames his body was producing and grinned when he noticed the afterburner affecting Akula.

The black haired woman was fully engulfed in Rin's blue flames and groaned in pain. She snarled before collecting magical energy into her body and releasing it instantly, causing a shockwave that blew the fire away. She landed on the building below them before raising an arm and holding out her palm, pointing it towards Rin who was slowly descending towards her, "_**Shadō meiku: Jūken(Shadow-make: Bayonets)!**_" Akula growled out as multiple black seals appeared in front of her palm and created around twenty long, slim black spikes. She grinned before clenching her palm and all of the spikes launched towards Rin.

Rin reacted almost instantly, engulfing his sword and body in blue flames before he started to spin mid-air, "_**Gōka no Uzu (Hellfire Vortex)**_" He said and shot upwards, leaving a spiral-like blue trail with his sword. The black spikes all crashed into the flames and disintegrated almost instantly.

As the teen stopped spinning, he quirked a curious eyebrow when he saw Akula appearing extremely close to him, '_Chance!_' he thought as he lifted his sword, "_**Jigoku no...**_" He was cut off when the woman grinned and he felt something hard smash against his stomach. He looked downwards, noticing that a shadow enhanced fist had smashed against his stomach, effectively breaking a few of his ribs. The black haired woman's grin widened as she grabbed his shoulder with her other arm and drifted upwards, holding her leg up above his head. Suddenly, the appendage, from the foot to the knee, became engulfed in shadows as she brought it down, smashing it against his head, propelling him downwards at great speeds before Rin smashed against the building's roof violently.

The black haired teen groaned loudly as he grasped his sword with his right hand and his sides with his left. He slowly leaned back up with a hiss, '_Damn it, if it weren't for my regeneration thing I'd have lost already._' He thought to himself as he could feel his bones regenerating inside of him. He looked upwards and saw Akula grinning sadistically at him, jumping around as her legs, from her feet to her knees, and her arms, from her hand to her elbow, were completely covered in shadows, creating a sort of large greaves and gauntlets.

"_**Shadō meiku: Beōrufu (Shadow-make: Beowulf)**_" She said, watching as the teen shakily got up while glaring holes at her.

"What the hell, I thought you were a caster type!" Rin growled.

Akula chuckled, "Deception is a great weapon, you know… besides, I'm both caster and melee. Sucks for you, doesn't it?" She asked with a laugh before raising her shadowy hand and launching more projectiles at the wounded Demon-Slayer.

Rin bit his lip; he wasn't ready to fight her until his wounds from before healed. She was just too fast for him to fight her injured, especially if she can do both ranged and close range attacks. He tsked sharply before emanating flames from his feet and smashing his right foot against the roof of the building, effectively creating a hole in which he fell to avoid the incoming attack.

He could feel the building shake as the multiple projectiles tried to change their course to intercept the Demon-Slayer but failed and smashed against the building. Rin quickly ran through a few rooms, nodding sorry to any inhabitants of the building he saw. He sweatdropped when some old woman started shouting at him, but paid it no mind; he had bigger problems to deal with right now.

He stopped suddenly and pressed his back against a wall. The teen grinned; his wounds were already mostly healed and he could continue the battle. He knew that it was a matter of time until Akula found him and he started charging his blade with demonic energy. Soon enough, he could feel the ground shake and magical energy flare from behind him. Rin quickly turned around just as Akula came smashing through the wall and blocked her fist with his blade. She kept pushing forward, making both of them fly out of the building while continuing their clash.

The Demon-Slayer grinned just as she jumped back to let Rin smash against the building behind him. He used the demonic energy he gathered earlier and spun his sword quickly before holding it in a reverse grip. He quickly swung it upwards, "_**Doraibu (Drive)!**_" He shouted and an extremely fast and sharp blast of blue magic shot from his blade towards the airborne woman. The Vanq was barely fast enough to raise her arms to block the attack, but the force behind it was enough to make her smash against the building they came from as Rin faceplanted the structure on the opposite side.

"_**Ōbādoraibu (Overdrive)!**_"

"_**Shadō meiku: Mikadzuki (Shadow-Make: Crescent Moon)!**_"

They both shouted from opposite buildings and, from the one Rin landed in, two curved blue slashes flew directly at the two pitch black crescent attacks Akula had sent. The projectiles met and clashed for a few seconds before exploding, causing a small tremor and instantly shattering the windows around the vicinity.

As the blasts finished wreaking havoc, both Rin and Akula slowly came out of the crumbling buildings, staring at each other with smiles on their faces, "Tell me something." The woman began, "That attack you just used and the one before… They're similar, yet different at the same time. What's the difference between them?"

Rin chuckled, "Why the sudden change of character? I thought you wanted to kill the _brat_ of the _great _Satan himself."

Akula blinked before chuckling as well, "I'm just curious…" She smiled seductively, "Besides… You're kinda cute, I want to know as much about you as I can before I smash you to pieces." She said before sticking her tongue out.

The Demon-Slayer stared at her blankly before coughing into his fist, "Right… well, it's quite simple, really." He said as he slashed the air, releasing a small burst of blue flames from the blade's edge, "For the first attack, _**Jigoku no Jikkō**_, I simply release a large amount of flames in the form of a slash. For the second one, _**Doraibu**_, and its continuation, _**Ōbādoraibu**_, I need to store magical power in my blade and condense it into something harder and stronger before I can release it. The difference between them is that I can use the first one repeatedly and quickly while the second one needs to be charged, although it is stronger." He explained and she nodded in return.

"I see." She mused while looking at Rin's blade with interest.

"Your turn; what's with those arms and legs?" He asked while pointing his index finger towards her.

"Oh? These?" Akula asked as she raised her enhanced fists, "Same as with your attack, I condense my magical power into gauntlets and greaves. It constantly drains my magical power, but, as you've probably noticed, it also gives me a boost in strength and speed. Plus…" She paused to draw a shadowy line with her fingers before the line materialized into an object and she threw it into a buildings wall, successfully impaling it before the projectile turned into nothingness, "It allows me to summon ranged attacks at will." The Vanq said with a sadistic grin.

Rin whistled, "That's pretty nice, no wonder you were able to launch the attack from before at me so fast."

The woman quirked an eyebrow before chuckling, "You haven't seen anything yet, dear." She said in a sing-song voice before disappearing from Rin's sight. But, to his pleasure, her magical power hadn't left his senses. He crouched quickly, avoiding a kick that would've hit the back of his head. He quickly rolled to the side just as a fist connected to the ground he previously stood on. The Demon-Slayer quickly stood back up and lunged at the Vanq with a stab to her stomach which she barely blocked by grinding the attack with the side of her left gauntlet. She wasn't able to stop it completely, resulting in the sword passing her elbow and cutting into her bicep rather violently.

Akula hissed loudly before swinging her right fist at the Slayer who blocked it by raising his free arm. He was knocked back from the punch and could feel that his arm might have been fractured, but paid it no mind, figuring that his regenerative abilities would heal it eventually.

Rin's eyes widened when the Vanq appeared directly above him and kicked downwards with her heel. The teen was fast enough to raise his sword and block the attack while holding the blade with both hands. The ground shattered around him from the force of the kick and formed a crater. Rin growled loudly before the flames around his body flared, "_**Satan no Girochin! (Satan's Guillotine)!**_" He yelled and slashed upwards. A scythe-like slash shot forward from the blade, effectively cutting Akula's shoulder and sending her barreling upwards, only to land on one of the buildings. Rin quickly jumped upwards and followed.

When on the structure's roof, Rin's first intention was to attack the Vanq but he suddenly stopped. His eyes widened when he saw a large pink-ish red explosion come from where he knew Ikaruga was fighting. He could feel an extremely powerful magical presence where she was and he didn't know who it belonged to. He was about to go investigate before an explosion rocked the area around him and everything slowly became dark.

"I grow tired of this!" Rin turned back as he heard Akula's screech. Her whole body was, quite literally, oozing shadows as the area around her started to change, darken, "It's time we end this, Satan's spawn."

Rin furrowed his eyebrows, noticing that she was halting the bleeding of her wounds with her shadows and sighed before going into a fighting stance. He saw her glare at him as she cocked her right fist back and stored magical power inside it, condensing it, causing the gauntlet to extend beyond her elbow towards her shoulder. He allowed the blue flames raging around him to seep out and collect into his sword, repeating the same process she did until he was sure he had stored as much as he could.

The two stared at each other for a few moments before lunging at one another at great speed. One with fists, the other with a sword. Akula roared as she swung her fist forward, so did Rin when he swung his sword upwards.

An explosion of extremely large proportions engulfed the area, causing a massive earthquake to shake the city itself. Dust and debris had risen as magical power fluctuated around the vicinity, causing multiple explosions to occur around them.

A few moments of pure chaos passed before the magical power they collected had ran out and dissipated, covering them in a coat of dust, blocking their vision, making them unable to see who was the victor. Eventually, the smoke cleared and both Rin and Akula stared at the person in between them who had stopped both of their attacks with ease.

He was a tall, muscular man with red hair and amber eyes that almost shone in contrast to the reflection of Rin's flames. His red hair was short, ruffled, and spiked, with two strands of hair near the opposite sides of his head falling over his face paired with distinct sideburns. He had the Vanq cloak on but the hood was off and you could clearly see what he wore underneath; a black V-neck shirt, blue skinny jeans and black shoes. But what shocked Rin most wasn't the man's appearance, hell no; it was _how _he had stopped both of their attacks.

He held Rin's sword pressed down to the ground with his foot while he gripped Akula's fist with the palm of his hand. A puff of smoke came from his mouth before he glanced at the woman whose fist he was gripping, "Akula." He said in a stern voice.

"Red King!" Akula replied in a rather worried voice as she almost instantly cancelled out her magic and bowed down slightly. Rin had noticed that the man held a bloody body over his shoulder.

The new arrival glanced back at Rin before the man named Craven and the last Vanquisher that was with them appeared, "Rin Okumura." He nodded while looking at the Demon-Slayer's eyes.

Rin looked around the people who had gathered and bit his lip, both in anger and worry, "Where the hell is Ikaruga?!" He shouted out.

"I'm here, calm down." The teen heard a voice behind him and glanced over his shoulder only to see a glaring Ikaruga staring at the 'Red King' with her arms folded.

The black haired teen smiled inwardly at the notion that she was safe before noticing something; a portion of her hair was cut, you couldn't miss it. He glanced to the side and saw one of the Vanqs she was fighting had lost an arm. He recognized the Vanq over the redhead's shoulder and could tell he was dead. '_Women._' He thought with an inward chuckle. Finally, he refocused back on the red haired man just as he stepped away from his sword, "Who the hell are you and how do you know my name?"

"How do we know your name?" Akula asked with a laugh, "Hah! We…" She was interrupted when the red haired man raised a hand to silence her, to which she instantly complied.

The Red King never let his glance leave Rin's eyes, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Rin Okumura, son of Satan." He said, "My name is Mikoto Suoh, Red King, second founder of The Vanquishers of the Unholy." He informed, making both Rin's and Ikaruga's eyes go wide.

'_Holy shit._' Rin thought as he stared defiantly at Mikoto, '_We're screwed now if he decides to…_'

"Don't worry; I haven't come here to fight. You already destroyed a good portion of the town and if we fought I doubt there'd be anything left." He said with a smirk.

The Demon-Slayer was unconvinced, "Then why the hell have you come here?"

The Red King's eyes became serious and Rin had to try to stop himself from flinching at the man's gaze, "I have a proposal for you; one that the Blue King and I have debated for a long time."

"You, the son of Satan, who possesses his flames, are the only one who could possibly destroy him." The man said as he inhaled from his cigarette and puffed out more smoke, "Which is why we want to recruit you as one of us; as one of the Vanquishers."

If Rin's eyes could've gotten any wider than they already were – they did. He was completely astonished by what he had just heard. Not only did a Vanq call him by his name and not some witty-ass Satan remark, he also wanted to recruit him? Bullshit. That was the single word that ran through Rin's mind, "What, you think I'm going to join you after all the shit you pulled when I was a kid?"

Mikoto's gaze remained unchanged, "Yes, we realize that this offer is hard to accept, but consider this; if you joined us, we would train you to become strong enough to defeat Satan. I think that is something that not only we want, but you as well, isn't it?"

"Mikoto-san!" Akula shouted, "You can't possibly…!"

"Quiet, Akula. Munakata and I have unanimously decided that the son of Satan is of use to us and is capable of joining our ranks." The redhead said with a tone of finality, silencing his subordinate.

The Demon-Slayer sighed before glancing at the Vanq who had lost an arm, "But are your buddies' okay with this? I mean, we did thrash all of you pretty good."

The redhead chuckled, "We are at fault for attacking you in the first place, which is why none of us feel any grudges for this misunderstanding, no matter what happened." He said with a glance at the dead body he held hung on his shoulder.

Rin thought about the surprise proposal for a second before rubbing the back of his head and groaning over dramatically in annoyance. He glanced back to Ikaruga for any input she could give him but she just shrugged in return, figuring it best if he decided this.

The Demon-Slayer sighed yet again, asking himself 'what's the worst that could happen?' while thinking about how annoying it was to do mercenary work for such small pay. He met Mikoto's stern gaze once more.

"Fine. We accept."

* * *

_**A/N#2: **Booyah! How do you like them apples? Kishishi._

_Alright, before anyone asks, **Mikoto Suoh** is from the anime **[K]**, which is friggin' awesome btw. And he's a complete and total badass. I swear to God. Oh, and a few of you might know who **Akula** is. She's actually a **Fairy Tail** character, but she wasn't in the anime or manga. She was in the game. **Portable Guild**, I think it was called. Anyway, yeah, all I did was change her magic. And I don't think she's this sexy, seductive, sadistic chick in there though. Oh well. *grins*_

_Am I the only one hyped for the next one? *chuckles*_


	15. Draconic Magnetism

_**A/N:** __Yoooooooosh! I'm here with another update...! Obviously... Gah, I don't even know what to say in this AN. Well, whatever, hope you like this chapter._

_Oh, and the poll on whether you like **FTH** or** LIB** more is still up on my profile. Do me a favor and vote on it, please? You know you want to~_

* * *

_**Let it Burn**_

* * *

_**Chapter 15: Draconic Magnetism**_

* * *

"Are you sure I made the right call?" Rin asked Ikaruga when he was sure they were a good distance behind from Mikoto and the others. They had been following the Vanqs for what seemed like hours already and his pink haired companion's silent demeanor was starting to annoy him. Ikaruga didn't answer him, making the Demon-Slayer sigh in annoyance.

They walked through the city, completely ignoring the sirens emanating from the police cars, ambulances and the like rushing to the place where they caused all that destruction. Rin furrowed his eyebrows, wondering if they had caused any unintentional civilian casualties. He had hoped not since the last thing he wanted to do was harm innocent people. They continued on their way until the group finally came out of the city and neared a mountain range. Walking for about twenty minutes more, they finally reached a sort of cave. Rin saw the redhead man glance at his direction before motioning to follow them into the cave. The teen was hesitant and stood idly by before feeling Ikaruga nudge him in the arm.

Rin glanced at her curiously, "You still haven't answered my question." He said, his eyes narrowing in the pink haired woman's direction.

The swordswoman sighed before shrugging in response, "Who knows; who cares? I mean, the pay must be better with them than it is for mercenaries, right?" She said and Rin nodded weakly in confirmation. Walking past the Demon-Slayer, a sly grin adorned Ikaruga's features, "Besides, the Vanqs have a policy to not harm any humans, right?"

"…Yeah, why?" The teen asked with a quirked eyebrow, causing the woman to chuckle.

"You're a half-demon, I'm not. They won't harm me if I don't help you." She said, her grin only widening at the visible scowl on Rin's face.

"Oi, come on already, we're waiting!" Akula's voice echoed through the cave just as Rin was about to reply to the pink haired woman. Sighing, the teen fastened his pace and caught up with the three Vanqs who were standing in front of a plain rocky wall.

"So? Why the hell are we standing here?" Rin asked as he and Ikaruga closed in on the three.

"We're waiting for you, dumbass." Akula retorted angrily, making the teen roll his eyes. All of them were called to attention when the Red King sighed and turned around to face the wall standing in their way. He lazily raised one of his arms and his palm was engulfed in a bright pink-ish flame. The redhead's palm touched the wall and the flames around his hand scattered, encasing the whole rocky surface before multiple engravings formed on it. The markings flashed brightly before disappearing yet again and a small tremor could be felt around them. As soon as it came, the tremor suddenly ceased its existence and the obstacle in their way shook before it lifted, causing them to be engulfed in a wave of dust. The dust was afterwards swiftly done away when Mikoto swung his arm to the side, effectively causing a gust of wind strong enough to clear their field of vision.

"Let's go." Mikoto said and waved his hand forward, motioning for the rest to follow him. The five people walked through a hallway surrounded by pillars on which multiple torches were hung. Rin looked around, rather curious by the fact that in front of them was an elevator, the kind that didn't suit their surroundings at all. He sweatdropped at how the Vanqs mixed today's technology with stuff from the Stone Age. The red haired man stopped near the elevator and pressed a few buttons on the touchpad next to it. After a few moments, the mechanical door slid open and all of them entered. Waiting for a few seconds for the machine to take them to the underground levels, the door slid open again and they exited.

Rin was instantly met with the sight of a large five story room, multiple pathways and bridges adorning their surroundings. He felt the many people surrounding them glare at him and it slightly aggravated him, '_You friggin' invite me here and then glare at me? Assholes…_' He thought while biting his lip, but preferred not to say anything aloud.

After about ten minutes of walking, the teen was already getting lost in the Vanq base. He was never good with mazes and this place was probably his worst nightmare that had anything to do with finding his path. He already knew that if he actually joined the Vanqs he'd get lost every time he'd go out on an assignment or whatever the hell else these guys would send him on. Soon after, two of the group, Craven and Akula, gave their farewell to Mikoto and took to the other side of the base; Rin assumed it was the infirmary.

The Red King kept on walking on his path, motioning for Ikaruga and Rin to follow him. They tread through the many corridors in the underground base's complex, going through the living quarters, the training area, and eventually the science labs. Rin noticed many glass cages with either dead demons or still live ones; Stalkers, Predators, Breeders, Rage, even the larger Hunter Demons. The sight of these cage beasts made Rin snarl slightly; he didn't know why, but just the sight of these monsters made him want to draw his blade and kill off every one of them. He turned to Mikoto who didn't seem to mind the creatures and simply walked forward. The teen felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around, noticing that Ikaruga was shaking her head with a rather timid smile on her features.

They kept going through the many large laboratories until they finally reached a set of large double doors behind which lay a large hall. Upon entrance, Rin was met with the stern glance of who he assumed was Munakata, the Blue King. He was a tall, muscular young man with short dark blue hair with a few strands on his forehead branching towards his left ear. His violet eyes mirrored the power within him, practically glowing through his frameless, rectangular-shaped glasses.

Rin didn't know what to say to this man as Munakata was the one who was a major part of the people who made the decision to invite him here, so the teen waited for the Blue King to talk first. But, contrary to Rin's hopes, all Munakata did was continue to glare at the young Demon-Slayer while stepping down a rather humble set of stairs.

Before the Demon-Slayer could understand what happened, he was overwhelmed by a force so strong it literally made him shake. His defensive instincts went into overdrive as he glared back at Munakata's now glowing lavender eyes. The teen saw a dark-ish blue aura emanating from the Blue King and couldn't help but feel quite weak in contrast to the older Vanq.

He tsked sharply when he turned to the left side and saw the Red King yawn lazily while rubbing the back of his head. Then, something in Rin clicked and he turned to the other side and saw Ikaruga crouching on one knee, her eyes wide open as she fought to catch her breath and keep herself conscious from the insane force the Blue King was allowing to escape his body.

Rin snarled at the man and, unbeknownst to him, his demonic powers awakened and he was surrounded by a light-blue flame. The fire spiraled around him and expanded, effectively encircling the pink haired woman in a defensive coat, making her glance up in surprise. Rin turned back to look at her, his now slit blue eyes gazing at her in worry. After noticing her smile and the nod of thanks, the Demon-Slayer turned back to Munakata who, surprisingly, was slightly taken aback by the fact that Rin could defend himself against the pure magical pressure he was releasing.

The Blue King stared at the teen, slightly surprised by his tenacity before he smiled; as much as he'd like to stop, he had to know how strong Rin was capable of becoming. The brute dark-blue magical aura surrounding Munakata expanded, forcing its way through Rin's defensive coat and harming the two yet again. The Demon-Slayer was forced to drop to his knees while his pink haired companion fought to keep her consciousness and she could feel it fading rapidly.

Rin's eyes widened; he felt weak, extremely weak when pit up against such a powerful foe. Considering the denseness of his aura alone, he dreaded the thought of what the Blue King might be like in an actual fight. The teen's eyes widened even more when he felt that something was wrong; he grasped his face with one of his hands when his whole body started shaking, '_No…! Not now!_' He screamed inside his mind when he realized that the flames of Satan inside his body were going into overdrive and were threatening to take over his mind and body.

Then, he quickly thought things through and came up with the most impulsive and reckless decision ever. He was being overwhelmed by the man standing in front of him; Rin was literally being destroyed by Munakata's aura alone. He didn't have time to think, not if he wanted Ikaruga to survive, which she was barely being capable of doing. He knew what he had to do to survive and if being taken over by Satan's power was the only way for him and the pinkette to live through this then so be it. He took down every defensive wall he placed around him, if only for an extremely short amount of time. Even if he only allowed a small portion of the power inside him to escape, he still almost blacked out from the sheer force coursing through his body. He could feel his vision getting blurry, but he could feel the energy he needed to overpower Munakata as well.

Both the Red and Blue Kings felt the sudden surge in Rin's power, both of them watching the Demon-Slayer curiously as the light-blue flames surrounding him slowly but surely expanded, once again coating him and the pink haired woman. Both of the Kings' eyes widened when Rin's head rose slowly, his face had morphed into a snarl as his slit eyes with slightly red pupils. Before any of the Vanqs could actually get prepared, Rin roared demonically, releasing an enormous amount of power. Munakata was taken aback and was sent crashing back from the sheer power the Demon-Slayer exhibited in his defensive outburst; even Mikoto was forced to use his pink-ish flames to keep himself from stumbling back. The walls around them cracked and a rather large tremor caused the area to shake as Rin slowly stood up, his unsheathed sword already in his hands as feral growls escaped his throat with each breath he took.

The navy-blue haired teen jumped towards where the Blue King had landed, his sword held up as he was ready to slash down and _obliterate_ anyone that dared harm him or his friends. Surprisingly, the aura that stayed behind and defended Ikaruga only intensified, creating a defensive dome around her, shielding her from any danger, be it physical, mental or otherwise dangerous.

Just as he was about to swing down, Rin felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck that made him black out completely. He had lost consciousness and his body limply fell on top of Munakata who grabbed the Demon-Slayer's body carefully, making sure that the Slayer wasn't injured.

The flames the teen was emanating vanished completely and any trace of his energy had disappeared, including the protective dome shielding Ikaruga from danger and obscuring her view. The woman's eyes widened when she saw her companion being held by the man that had assaulted them both and she grasped her sword, intent on attacking both the Kings even if the situation seemed grim.

"Calm down." Mikoto's voice echoed through the large room's cracked walls as his hand grasped Ikaruga's sword, effectively keeping the blade in its sheath, "We don't intend to harm either of you."

"Bullshit!" The pinkette exclaimed angrily, her green eyes glaring holes at the redhead standing in front of her, "Your asshole of a friend does this and you tell me to calm down? How can you possibly…"

"As Suoh said, please, calm down." The blue haired Vanq said with a chuckle. He supported Rin's unconscious body by throwing the Demon-Slayer's arm over his shoulder and slowly walked towards the pink haired woman, "I was merely trying to determine his strength."

The woman continued to glare at both men, obviously not buying the weak explanation the Blue King gave, "That was one hell of a way to test someone. I hope you're happy with the ass beating he dealt you." Ikaruga growled with a snarl directed at Munakata who only chuckled in response.

"Indeed. His demonic side is even stronger than I had imagined." He said with a glance towards the unconscious teen, "I hope you do not hold this against us. All we wanted to do was test his power and determination and the level at which he can control his flames."

"You could've at least warned us! What, do you think attacking us out of the blue will make us want to join you even more?!" She shouted at his face as she unsheathed her sword and pointed it at Mikoto's neck, making the redhead sigh tiredly.

"Look, woman," He said rather apathetically, pushing her sword away with the palm of his hand, "We had to make him think that he was really being attacked. That drove him into a situation where he had to tap into his demon power and use it if he wanted to survive." The man explained as he took out a cigarette and lit it with a small flame he created on his index finger.

"And since you were here too, this only drove him further." Munakata added, "We've monitored Rin for a long time and we know he'd do anything for his friends, even if it meant using a power that might eventually harm him."

"Wait… You monitor him?" She asked, her brow raised slightly.

The blue haired man nodded, "Of course. We monitor everyone that has anything to do with demons or anything similar."

"Well that's… freaky." The woman replied with a slow shake of her head.

"I'm really sorry for surprising you the way I did. I hope we can make it up to you two eventually, but for now, one of our people is waiting outside this room. He'll take you to your quarters." The Blue King informed, a rather honest smile plastered on his lips.

"Damn it, do you really expect me to trust you?" Ikaruga growled out as she took Rin from the blue haired man and continued to glare at him as best she could.

Mikoto's over dramatic groan reverberated through the room. The man was clearly annoyed, "Could you be any more paranoid?" He asked in annoyance, "If we wanted to kill you, I would've done so the second I met you back in Shirotsume."

Ikaruga gritted her teeth at the statement, angered at her own incapability to protect herself or her companion. She stayed silent for a while before sighing, "Fine." She said as she turned around and went towards the double doors they came in on, Rin's arm thrown over her shoulder as she drug him with her. She cast one more sideways glance at the two Kings before exiting the room.

Munakata rubbed his face tiredly, "Well that went better than expected."

The redhead smirked at the statement, "Really? You got your ass handed to you by that kid." Mikoto mocked, his smirk forming into a barely visible grin as he exhaled a puff of smoke from his cigarette.

The Blue King gave a hearty laugh at Red's words, "That's true. I never expected him to be this strong." He said and the redhead nodded in response. A momentary silence enveloped the two Kings before Munakata glanced at the other, "How's Craven?"

"Half-dead, obviously." Mikoto replied plainly, causing the blue haired man to sigh in frustration, "Why did you order him to attack the guy anyway? You know he's a powerhouse that might even give you a run for your money."

"Keyword might." Munakata replied, making the redhead nod at his words, "And besides, I didn't order him to attack, I ordered him to observe, especially after what we saw happen in Wintermane." He explained while scratching his chin in thought, "I have absolutely no idea why Craven engaged him."

"Speaking of which," The redhead interrupted Munakata's train of thought as he exhaled yet another puff of smoke, "Natsu apparently transformed again."

"What…?" The Blue King replied, his eyes widening at the revelation.

"Aye." Mikoto said while nodding to himself, "But this time was different. He wasn't strained nor was he being controlled or possessed. It seemed as if he was controlling those black flames." He explained, "And whatever Craven felt, he assured me that it ain't demon." The Red King answered the question he knew Munakata was going to ask.

"What did he feel?" The blue haired man asked as he folded his arms under his chest, all the while watching Mikoto curiously.

The redhead simply shrugged at the question, "Who knows; who cares? I mean, it ain't demon, that we can be sure of. If we don't know what the fuck's inside him why cry over it? We'll deal with it when it becomes a problem." He said as he threw what was left of his cigarette on the floor and stomped on it, effectively ceasing the small light coming from its ashes, "Too bad Craven did attack; now we don't have anyone keeping an eye on Dragneel."

"Why? Because he joined the Fairies' Order?" Munakata asked and Mikoto nodded in response, making the Blue King quick an eyebrow in curiosity, "I thought Balam would have been a bigger pain in the ass to track?"

"You haven't met Makarov then. The guy would do anything to protect his 'brats', as he puts it." The redhead stated with a yawn, "Anyway, I'm out." Mikoto said as he shoved his hands in his pockets and made for the double doors leading out of the room.

Munakata sighed at the Red King's nonchalant attitude. Saying that they shouldn't worry about something they couldn't quite grasp was inane. The Blue King never liked things that he couldn't comprehend or know how to deal with, especially since a certain plan was already in motion.

"Natsu Dragneel… What are you?"

* * *

"Achoo!" Natsu sneezed loudly, scratching his nose before righting himself. He yawned before looking around; it had already been over three hours since he and Erza left to go… 'Shopping for him', as she called it. Although it had ended up with Erza buying way more things than he did, which he knew would happen. The worst part? He had to carry her stuff. Yeah. Women.

It's not like he minded it; he had carried way more than twenty bags before in his life. Well, sure, twenty bags sound like a lot, especially since Erza had bought a few swords and pieces of armor too. It really was a lot, but it's not like he could really complain. Natsu was staying at her place and she was covering his living expenses; carrying her things was the least he could do.

The pinkette glanced at Erza who was walking beside him and was looking through the many shops around them all the while. She wore a quarter sleeved black and white plaid blouse that had ruffles running vertically along the center of the chest, paralleling the buttons, before curving upwards around the neck, its few top buttons left unbuttoned which showed a fair amount of cleavage; she probably couldn't even fully button the blouse due to the size of her bust, Natsu guessed; Skinny black leather jeans that were slightly ripped at the thigh and black heels. He glanced down to himself and sweatdropped at what he was wearing; a white hoodie probably three times larger than what he'd normally wear, extremely baggy blue jeans and white sneakers that were practically invisible due to the fact that his pants were about three times larger than what he'd wear as well. Were these clothes actually Gray's?

The pair was walking through the main street of Magnolia's old town district where most of the smaller shops were. Nothing too extravagant, but it wasn't too cheap either. Just what he could have afforded if he still had any money in his bank account. He frowned at the thought. When he was 'excommunicated' from the people he used to work for, albeit without any regrets, his account got terminated and all the funds he managed to save during his life were quite literally stolen from him. Now the pinkette had to live off of someone else; something he hated with all his being.

"Natsu?" The man was brought back from his thoughts when Erza's voice rung out from his side, "You okay? You seem… distant." She said, her brown eyes locked on the pinkette's onyx ones.

Natsu shook his head, "Naw, I'm fine. I'm just… thinking about stuff."

"Stuff?" Erza inquired with a quirked eyebrow, causing the pinkette to sigh.

"Aye. Money stuff. I mean, it's kind of a pity that all the money for the shit I've done in the past is gone. Hey, it's not like I regret stopping working for those assholes, it's just that it feels as if I was mugged, you know?" Natsu said with a shrug, not really understanding what he meant himself, but it was enough for Erza to understand and nod towards him.

"Don't worry about it." She said, a smile forming on her lips, "You'll get back on your feet pretty soon. The Order rewards well."

"Hah." Natsu laughed slightly, "Judging by how the geezer was, collateral damage means shit for repairs come out of my pay, eh?" He asked, making the redhead chuckle sheepishly in affirmation, "Guess I'll just have to tone shit down a notch…" he was interrupted when someone suddenly bumped into his back, causing him to take a few steps forwards. He almost stumbled to the ground, pressing one of his feet forwards to stop himself from falling.

"Who the…" Natsu growled out. Turning around, he noticed someone had fallen to the ground after bumping into him. The person wore a cloak with a hood which hid her face. Natsu guessed it was a she, if the long, black hair with red highlights sticking out from the hood was any indication. His eyes narrowing, the Dragon-Slayer was about to give the person a piece of his mind when she suddenly stood up, a snarl forming on what Natsu could make out was the person's face.

"Out of the way." She said before dashing through the Slayer, pushing him away when she bumped into his shoulder as she left.

"Oi!" The man growled out yet again and was about to start chasing her when he accidentally got a whiff of her scent.

Erza stared curiously at the retreating woman's figure, her curiosity piquing even higher when she saw multiple hooded figures dash through the roofs of the buildings surrounding them, obviously chasing the former person. She scratched her temples in thought, cursing inwardly when she realized that a mage fight was probably going to erupt and, as they were part of the Order, they had to keep Magnolia from getting damaged. "Hey Natsu…" She was thrown out of her train of thought when she saw how wide Natsu's eyes had become, "What is it?"

Natsu shook slightly his now saucer-wide eyes darting towards the roof where he noticed the three pursuers, "That scent… Igneel…" He muttered, his voice shaking slightly. Natsu's gaze shifted between the retreating woman and her pursuers. He tried to wrap his mind around what the hell he had just smelt. It was impossible. How could she have Igneel's scent? Unless… no, Natsu couldn't be sure of anything, but he still needed to know.

His eyes narrowing, the pinkette dropped all the bags he held and crouched down slightly before dashing towards the building to their side. He was near the structure's wall in less than a second before he channeled magic into his feet and caused a small explosion beneath him, effectively making him fly towards the building's roof.

"Natsu…!" The redhead shouted when the pinkette darted past her and up the building. She gritted her teeth in annoyance; just as she thought she'd have some free and _peaceful_ time with the Slayer something like this had to happen. She watched Natsu skillfully jump through the many houses adorning the old city district, fast on the heels of the woman's pursuers. The red haired woman quickly raised her hand and created a red magical circle in which a sort of portal opened. She proceeded to place the things they bought inside the porter and sent them to her magical storage area since, after all, she really didn't want to lose the things she spent so much money and time on buying.

* * *

Natsu dashed through the old district's houses, making multiple blasts of flames to erupt from his feet to enhance his speed. He continued to try and comprehend why the woman from before had Igneel's scent, but the concept just wasn't clear enough in his mind. He knew it wasn't possible because he saw it himself; he saw his mentor, his foster father, die right before his very own eyes. He noticed that he couldn't see the woman anymore and slowed his pace slightly. The pinkette saw the pursuers and it was obvious that they still knew where the woman was; he needed to remain undetected so they could take Natsu right to her.

Noticing that the three had jumped down into a clearing beyond one of the buildings, the Slayer gathered more magic in both of his feet before jumping up into the air as high as he could – which was about fifty stories, mind you – before glancing down at where he thought the people he was chasing resided. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw the woman that was being chased kneeling down, panting heavily. He managed to make out that one of her three pursuers was dashing towards her, something akin to a sword made out of stone in his hand.

'_Oh hell no._' Natsu thought before a crimson red aura started to make itself known around him. He suddenly disappeared from view, travelling at speeds most wizards couldn't follow for the life of them. Just as the man's sword was about to meet its target, Natsu's foot crashed down on it, effectively destroying the rocky blade and cracking the ground beneath him upon landing.

"_**Karyū no Tekken! (Fire Dragon's Iron Punch)**_" He shouted after mere milliseconds of gathering magical power into his right fist before smashing it against the attacker's face, effectively causing him to fly back and hit a building across the block, cracking it's wall in the process.

The Slayer looked to the side and saw the form of the woman lying on the floor, panting heavily. He had no idea why, but the scent he thought was Igneel's was even more apparent now. The scent was gradually getting stronger and stronger and he noticed that the woman's panting intensified as well. His eyes widened when he noticed a blue-ish magical seal appear below the woman's body and he reacted instantly, grabbing her bridal-style before dashing to the side just before a pillar of boiling water erupted from the seal. Multiple seals appeared around him, blasting a boiling wave of water out of every single one. Natsu kept dodging as he continued to maneuver around the watery onslaught, careful not to drop the girl.

He slid to a stop and placed the woman on the ground while covering her with his own body. The pinkette glared at the two mages, one of them had water surrounding his hands while lightning flickered around the other. Natsu's eyes widened as the area around him started to darken. Looking upwards, he noticed a massive lightning cloud gathering above them, '_Shit!_' He cursed inwardly as a humongous lightning bolt barreled towards him. He was barely able to block it by raising one of his arms, effectively protecting the cloaked woman.

He felt the massive shock course through his body and grit his teeth as he could feel his body getting numb, but not numb enough, "Enough of this shit!" He shouted as he jumped forward. He smashed his fist on the ground, effectively causing it to crack around him. Red flames started gathering around him as he seemingly glared at the two enemies before him. The pinkette launched himself forwards at great speed, an arrowhead forming at the head of his attack.

He quirked an eyebrow when he saw the two mages sending their attacks simultaneously, the magic seemingly merging into a destructive water and lightning combination, '_Unison Raid? No dice._' He thought as he continued on his way, his speed increasing even more, "_**Karyū no Kenkaku! (Fire Dragon's Sword Horn)**_" He shouted as he increased his speed to the maximum, almost bordering the speed of sound as a velocity ring erupted from his dash. The two attacks collided violently, causing the area to shake as water, lightning and fire scattered around the place, making it look like a small apocalypse erupted in the middle of town.

Natsu roared as he kept fighting the oncoming magic, pushing himself forward with each breath he took as he attempted to overpower his enemy. He growled in annoyance before placing his hands in front of his face in an x-shaped pattern. He extended the appendages and pushed them forward as he made a grabbing motion, seemingly grabbing the two unified powers. Roaring again, it seemed as if Natsu had forcefully separated the two forces by brute strength alone before he continued on his way towards the two mages who were now completely shocked by the Slayer's strength.

The flames around him disappeared as he righted his posture, his speed never faltering as he was pushed forward by the force he exhibited earlier and the momentum his attack created. He spread out his arms and a whip-like flaming line extended from each appendage. His eyes narrowed as he flew between his two enemies, the flames he held in his arms hitting the two head on, "_**Guren: Bakuenjin!(Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade)**_" He shouted as the attack made contact with his enemies. Time seemingly slowed down momentarily before two massive explosions rocked the area. The attack continued to rip through the two pursuers, each whip-like line sending them spiraling to separate directions, a large explosion erupting every third of a second.

* * *

Erza ran through Magnolia's streets, following the sound of fighting erupting in the distance. She couldn't believe how long it took her to place her things inside the magical storage area. She made note to increase its size later since the place was, quite literally, packed.

She was brought out of her musings as the redhead noticed that the area had gotten slightly darker. Glancing up, her eyes widened when she saw a massive black cloud lingering up above where she knew Natsu was. A large bolt of lightning followed and the ground shook yet again. Gritting her teeth, she increased her speed and ran through the many alleyways of old town as fast as she could. The ground shook yet again when she noticed the three elements that were fighting for supremacy scatter in every direction.

She continued to run before her eyes widened slightly when she couldn't hear or feel anything else, '_Is it over?_' She thought for a second before she was brought out of her musings after a fraction of a second later multiple extremely bright and large fiery explosions sounded in the distance. The redhead jumped to the side when a line of explosions came barreling past her, an image of a man in the middle of the destruction as the attack continued to rip through the building's in its way.

The attack continued to obliterate everything in its wake for a couple more moments before ceasing its brutal onslaught. Erza looked around and couldn't help but sweatdrop, "…So much for no collateral." She thought as she glanced at the many destroyed buildings. Yup, Makarov was going to be pissed.

* * *

Natsu leaned up, panting slightly as the attack he used was one of the strongest in his arsenal. And one of the most destructive, he noted after looking around, "Damn, there goes the 'no collateral' part." He thought with a sweatdrop as he noticed the range of the destruction his Exploding Flame Blade had caused. Righting himself, he was called to attention when he noticed that the scent he was getting from the woman had increased even more. He turned around and instantly dashed towards her.

"Hey, you okay?" Natsu asked as he crouched down near her. He shook her form slightly, "Oi!"

"Get away from me!" The woman suddenly screamed before a flaming backhand sent Natsu barreling backwards. He crashed through the ground a few times before he stopped himself by dragging his feet through the concrete ground.

He groaned loudly before rubbing the cheek that got hit, "Damn it, what the hell was that…" He was interrupted when he looked up to notice the now standing woman. But what surprised him wasn't the fact that she was standing, oh hell no. Neither was her quite curvaceous figure, nope. Neither was her outfit that was revealed when the cloak she wore was blown away; a black leather vest that ended at her bellybutton with a fair amount of cleavage exposed as the top part was unzipped, a red-ish black miniskirt, that was obviously too short, with black stockings and black heels that ended mid-shin… nope, definitely not. Okay, maybe these three factors had a hand in his surprise, but the main reason for it was one simple thing. The red flames surrounding her and spiraling out of control. Flames almost identical to Natsu's.

The pinkette's eyes widened even more when the flames expanded and the form of a fire dragon appeared behind her. The dragon roared to the skies before glaring at Natsu. The Slayer flinched at the gaze that he had seen so many years ago. Igneel's gaze. This dragon was identical to his foster father, "What in the hell…" He trailed off but was brought out of his musings when the woman instantly closed the distance between them and landed a blow to Natsu's head, making the pinkette crash down face first into the ground.

Natsu groaned loudly before he rolled to the side and avoided having his head stomped to nothingness as the flame-clad woman brought her foot down and cracked the surface beneath her. He rolled to a stop before jumping backwards. His eyes widened yet again when she appeared in front of him mid-air and thrust her left fist forward. Natsu had none of that and grabbed the appendage. He exhibited flames of his own to battle the magical pressure the woman was releasing, his own flames overpowering her's rather easily.

He noticed the woman flinch at his power. The other thing he noticed was her cocking her right fist back before she smashed it against his stomach, the force behind the punch was enough for Natsu's vision to go blurry and send him flying towards the ground. He smashed violently against the concrete, erecting a massive gust of dust around the area. After a few seconds, the same dust cleared away when the pinkette released a blast of fire to clear his vision. His eyes narrowed at the airborne woman who was slowly drifting downwards. He made a note of the fact that her right appendage was seemingly covered by a red gauntlet with yellow outlines from her wrist up to her elbow, multiple spikes jutting out of the back of the gauntlet and her nails had apparently become claws.

She landed rather gracefully before lunging at the pinkette again. He gritted his teeth in annoyance; he didn't want to hurt her, but if he didn't at least make an effort he would be the one getting hurt. He leaned back to avoid an upwards kick aimed at his head before jumping backwards to a handstand in order to avoid a fist to the face. Afterwards, he had to jump to the air to avoid a lower kick aimed at his hands. He flipped a few times while in the air, creating explosions under his feet all the while to widen the gap between them.

As he determined that the gap between them was large enough, Natsu stopped flipping to inspect her. He quirked an eyebrow when he noticed the flames around her spiraling wildly. Her mouth was agape and her eyes seemed… dead. His eyes widened when he noticed a single tear run down her cheek, as if she wasn't in control of her own actions. Then it struck him. The out of control flames, the bizarre, almost mechanized movements, the sudden attacks… everything made sense. She lost control of her own power and was being controlled herself. Judging from the gauntlet on her hand, it must have been the source. He focused on the gauntlet and saw multiple scars running from where it ended through her arm towards her shoulder. Natsu grit his teeth at the fact that his assumption was right; her being controlled meant that her body was slowly deteriorating due to the weapon's massive power.

Natsu closed his eyes as he decided on what he should do next. At the rate she was going, it would take a few more attacks for her to literally kill herself. Attacking and hurting her to actually save her life was a better choice than death.

As soon as he closed his eyes, flames sprouted from his body, spiraling in the air around him as scales seemingly covered a portion of his body and multiple shockwaves erupted around him, "_**Doragon Fōsu(Dragon Force)**_" He muttered under his breath before opening his eyes. As soon as he did so, he disappeared from view, appearing behind the woman a few seconds later, his back turned to her. He turned to the side as he followed the motion of a backhand swipe which was blocked by the woman's gauntlet, the aftermath of the collision causing a shockwave and a torrent of fire to decimate the area around them.

The black haired woman swung her other hand at the pinkette but it was dodged when Natsu leaned to the left. He did a handstand with his left appendage before kicking the woman in her chin with his right foot, sending her flying slightly backwards before she landed back on her feet and darted towards the Slayer yet again. Natsu's eyes narrowed as he noticed her dashing towards him, her arms surrounded by flames identical to his. He had no intention of stepping back, not this time. He could see right through her movements and he had no intention of allowing her to damage her own body any more. Or his, for that matter.

He turned his head to the side as a fist flew inches by his ear. He did the same to the other side when her other fist flew by him as well. The pattern of him dodging her hits went on for a few moments, the Slayer finding it painfully easy to evade these uncoordinated swipes. He was right, not only was she being damaged, her movements were… _mechanical_, artificial even. They were too easy to read and too sluggish. Natsu kept dodging, waiting for the right moment to retaliate and it came just as she stepped forward.

The pinkette grabbed her gauntlet-clad hand and pulled her towards himself, causing the woman to lose her posture. He smashed his palm against her stomach, making her gasp from the impact as she was sent barreling backwards. Her body flew a few feet above ground and Natsu seized this opportunity to hit her blind spot. He appeared beneath her and sent a coordinated chop to the back of her neck, careful not to break anything. The blow was strong enough to knock the still moving woman unconscious as the flames and the gauntlet on her arm seemingly disappeared into nothingness, as did Igneel's scent, Natsu noted.

The pinkette caught her falling figure mid-air before landing, careful not to harm her. Upon landing, he fell to one knee as he released his Dragon Force, rather tired because of the stronger techniques he had to use both against the woman's pursuers and her. He glanced at her face and his eyes widened in surprise. She was… smiling. Was it gratitude? Or was she dreaming? Natsu had no clue. But that wasn't what mattered. Right now, he had to get her to a hospital to get her arm checked out. The scars running along her right appendage had extended beyond her arm and were now coursing through her body, the area from her wrist to her shoulder already bleeding profusely.

"Natsu!" The pinkette heard a familiar voice and turned to the side. He noticed Erza watching him in concern as she ran towards them, "What ha…" She paused as her eyes widened at the sight of the girl in Natsu's arms, "Katarina?! What is she doing here…?"

"You know her?" Natsu asked curiously while glancing at the black haired woman then back at the redhead.

Erza nodded as she inspected the girl's, now known as Katarina's, wounds, "Yes, she's a first year in Fairy High and she just joined the Order."

"Huh." The pinkette mused to himself as he glanced back at the woman in his arms, "In any case, we have to get her to a hospital." He said as he stood up and picked Katarina up bridal-style.

"What the hell happened here?" The redhead asked.

"I'll explain later, come on or she'll die from blood loss!" He said, causing the requip user to groan over dramatically before she nodded and motioned for Natsu to follow her.

As they jumped to the roofs of Magnolia and dashed through the buildings, Natsu went back to what he felt when he fought her. He smelled Igneel's scent, he was sure of that. The only thing he was clueless about was why in the hell she had his scent. Moreover, it disappeared when the gauntlet disappeared. Was it the weapon? He didn't know. He had no clue why a weapon could exhibit his foster father's power, but he would find out. He needed to know what that gauntlet was and he absolutely needed to know if there were more like it.

The last thing he needed right now were people running around posing that they were the damned Fire Dragon-Slayers and killing themselves in the process.


End file.
